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. ESCAPB OK A 

Confederate Officer 

FROM PRISON. 



^ 



> 



WHAT HE SAW AT 



ANDERSONVILLE 







HOW HE WAS SENTENCED TO 
DEATH AND SAVED BY THE 






INTERPOSITION OF AUG 24 

President Abraham Lincoln. 



NOEFOLK, VA.: 

THE LANDMARK PUBLISHING COMPANY. 
1898, . 



EU8 

•Ha? 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1892, 

By Samuel B. D\vis, 

In the office of the Librarian of Congress, 
at Washington. 






THE CONFEDERATE SPY.f' 



Through the Union Lines and Many Perils. 



Daring Mission of a Young Confederate Officer 
to Ohio and to Canada — Narrow Es- 
cape from the Gallows. 



WAS THIS ANOTHER ANDRE CASE ? 



The above was the heading of an article which 
recently appeared in at least one newspaper pub- 
lished in Virginia, and it began as follows : 

" Lt. S. B. Davis, of the Confederate Service, 
probably came the nearest of any officer on either 
side to playing the role of the Andre of the Rebel- 
lion." 

So it began, and the ending was : 

' ' To the end he kept the secret of his mission 
to Ohio." 

A letter written to the author of the above 
brought me the information that he had gotten 
his points " by following the account given by 
Capt. Hines, and a narrative before the Loyal Le- 
gion, by a member of the Court." The article 
referred to has caused my friends to ask why I 
have never written an account of what I went 
through during the War. In order to make a con- 
nected story, let me begin at the Battle of Gettys- 
burg, where I was shot through the lung. Then 
my recollections of Andersonville, from the out- 
side of the prison, and conclude with my trip to 
Canada. 



f\ F{eeolleetio9 of tf^e U/ar. 



At the Battle of Gettysburg I was Aid to Major 
Genl. Trimble, of Maryland. In the third day's 
fight, while with one of the divisions, snpporting 
Pickett in his memorable charge, I was shotthrongh 
the lung and taken prisoner by the United States 
forces, who advanced after the Confederates had 
fallen back. Two Portugese Soldiers were the 
first persons I saw after the skirmish line had 
passed over me, and I asked them for a little water 
to drink ; they carried me up the hill and laid me 
down behind the stone wall I had so much wished 
to reach only a short time before, but under dif- 
ferent circumstances. 

A very diminutive surgeon of Teutonic persua- 
sion came my way, and to satisfy myself I was not 
going to die, I asked him to examine my wound. 
He was kind, and said in his broken-English, ' ' Yes, 
I look at dat vound," and he did so. I pressed him 
to tell me what he thought of it, but I could only 
draw from his doleful countenance and the omi- 
nous shaking of his head the most discouraging- 
conclusions as to my chances of recovery. Deter- 
mined to settle the matter, if possible, in order that 
I might let it be known to my friends that I had 
been killed, I pressed him still further, but with- 
out avail ; all I could get him to say was : "It is 
very dangerous." Worried at my failure to get 
at his conviction, I tried once more, assuring him 
he could not do me any injury by telling me the 
truth, as I was not afraid to die; while any encour- 
agement he could and would give me, might go 
far towards helping me to live, which I was very 
anxious to do. In this way I got him to unbend a 



6 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 

little, and after again examining the wound, this 
is what he said : 

" I tell you vat I dink, 
'• I dink the possibility is you get veil, 
" I dink the probability is you die, 
" I dink by God you die anyhow." 

I accepted the possibilities, and let the probabili- 
ties pass on. He gave me some morphia, put nie 
on a stretcher, and I saw him no more. On the 
way to the field hospital, one of the men carry- 
ing me was shot, and I was dropped out of the 
stretcher, but I reached the field hospital, an old 
barn, with no further mishap. 

Next day I was removed to another hospital , and 
in a day or two was sent to Baltimore, thence to 
Chester Pennsylvania. The Hospital at Chester 
being an old college on the site where afterwards 
stood the Pennsylvania Military Academy. I soon 
commenced to recover, and by the 10th of August 
began to cast aboiit me for a chance to escape. I 
was very familiar with the whole surrounding 
country, and was sure if I could only get outside 
the line of sentinels, I would soon be back within • 
the Confederate lines. I was afraid, however, to ap- 
proach au}' one on the subject, as I was assured by 
older heads than mine among the officers confined 
with me, that if I tried to escape I would most 
assuredly be caught, and be subjected to close con- 
finement and short rations. I could not, however, 
divest myself of the idea that I could get out, and 
at last I found among my fellow prisioners Capt. 
Slay, 16th Mississippi Regiment, who told me that 
he had had an offer made to him by one of the 
sentinels ; that the sentinel sympathized with 
us, and would let any one or two of us escape, if 
he (Slay) wanted to get out. The only thing he 
asked was five dollars with which to escape himself 
if necessary. 



A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 7 

After much advice from some of the other officers 
confined there against onr making the attempt, 
Capt. Slay and myself concluded that upon the old 
theory " Faint heart ne'er won fair lady " and that 
if we remained there we would soon be sent from 
hospital to prison, with the uncertainty of ex- 
change ahead of us, so we made up our minds to 
brave all danger and try to escape. I had already 
obtained a suit of gray clothes, not cut like a uni- 
form, and of a lighter color than that usually worn 
by the Confederates ; I traded my cap for a slouch 
hat, and I was equipped. Accordingly, after sev- 
eral interviews with our friend, the Sentinel, it was 
arranged that at fifteen minutes past twelve o'clock, 
on the night of the 16th of August, 1863, Capt. 
Slay and myself were to present ourselves at the 
post of the "friendly sentry," and he was to give 
us the countersign, and let us pass out of the lines. 
This night had been selected, because on the 
morning following it was reported that three hun- 
dred privates were to be sent to City Point for ex- 
change, and we wished to leave the impression that 
we had managed to secrete ourselves among them. 

Of course we were much excited at the prospect 
ahead of us, and for several days before the 16th 
arrived, we thought over our route and weighed 
fully the pros and cons of the expedition. At 
last the sixteenth came. As night came on the sky 
clouded up, and from 9 till 11 o'clock it rained in 
torrents, accompanied by thunder and lightning. 
By twelve the storm had ceased, and as it was 
cloudy and dark, we hoped to get off safe. I was 
now apparently quite well, although only six 
weeks had passed since I had been shot. I had 
taken what exercise I could, and concluded I was 
able to go. Capt. Slay had been shot through the 
left fore-arm the same day I was shot, but his arm 
had gotten so he could use it, and we two crip- 



8 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 

pled Confederates started for a tramp back to 
Richmond. 

Two of onr friends accompanied ns down stairs, 
partially clad, in order not to excite snspicion, and 
then gave ns the garments they had brought, which 
clothed us fully. We managed to get out of the 
building without attracting any one's attention, 
and approached the spot where we knew the sen- 
tinel we wanted would be posted, at a concerted 
signal we heard the click, click of the musket. 
I must admit I was very uneasy unless we should 
have made some mistake and fallen on the wrong 
man ; however, we soon heard "Advance and give 
the countersign." We advanced — "Farewell, God 
bless you." He .sang out " the countersign is 
right ; pass on," and we were free. We did not 
lose any time, I assure you, in putting as much 
ground as we could between the hospital and our- 
selves, and daylight found us walking into Wil- 
mington, Delaware. It was no easy work for two 
badly wounded men to walk fifteen miles so soon 
after being shot, and although we were much 
fatigued, we felt to the fullest extent the import- 
ance of still further effort on our part to continue 
our tramp. We knew, however, that the roll was 
never called at Chester until after 9 o'clock a. m., 
and being very hungry we determined to have some 
breakfast. Accordingly, we went to the United 
States Hotel, and had the pleasure (?) of enjoying 
our breakfast at the table with Brig. -Gen. Tyler, 
U. S. A. He was accompanied by his staff, all in 
uniform, and I leave you to imagine the feelings of 
two escaped "Johnnie Rebs " at breakfast with 
such company. The meal over, we hastened to 
get out of town as soon as possible. 

Deeming it prudent to get away from the more 
frequented thoroughfares, and feeling sure that as 
soon as we were missed the authorities would wire 



A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 9 

to Baltimore, where I was known to have relatives 
and friends. I determined to strike down the Del- 
aware Peninsula, and accordingly on leaving Wil- 
mington behind ns, we took the road to New 
Castle. 

When we had reached a point half way between 
Wilmington and New Castle, tired nature began to 
assert herself, and worn out by excitement and our 
long tramp, we were forced to seek rest in a piece of 
woods by the roadside. Up to this time (had we 
known as much then as I found out afterwards ) we 
had not been reported as missing ; and I may as 
well say here how I gained this information. At 
Chester there was in- charge of the ward, where 
Slay and myself were placed, a hospital steward, 
w^hose name, if memory serves me well, was Riker, 
or something similar. xA year after our escape, 
and when I was at Andersonville, this same man 
recognized me while I was riding through the 
stockade ; although he could not overtake me, he 
followed me to the gate and asked the officer on 
duty there to send him to headquarters that he 
might see me. His request was granted, and I at 
once knew him and paroled him to duty in the 
office of which I had charge. He told me that 
Capt. Slay and myself were not missed for twenty- 
four hours after our departue, and that then Balti- 
more and Philadelphia were the only points where 
the authorities were notified to lookout for us ; in 
the meantime we were tramping through Delavv-are. 
Riker also told me a piece of new^s I was very 
sorr}' to hear, and that was that our friend, the Sen- 
tinel, had unwisely let fall a clew by which he was 
accused and convicted of having let us out. I 
have ne^•er heard what became of either Riker or 
the Sentinel. 

After several hours of needed rest, we again 
started on our journey, arrived at New Castle, we 



10 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 

were obliged to wait two hours for a train to 
Dover. It being my intention to go from Dover 
over the line into Maryland, cross the Chesapeake 
Bay, and get to the Potomac river as soon as possi- 
ble. Finally the train at 6 p. M. rolled up to the 
station, but much to our chagrin, on our entrance 
into a car we saw Col. Willis, of New Jersey, who 
had been until within the last week at Chester, 
and with whom both of us had frequently con- 
versed. In addition to • this there was also a cor- 
poral and three soldiers in the car. 

Frightened as we were, we still had presence of 
mind enough to separate at once. I took a whole 
seat to myself, and curling up on the cushion in a 
manner to as fully as possible hide my face, feigned 
sleep. Slay fixed himself as best he could, and 
threw a handerchief over his face, and tried by 
heavy breathing to convince every one that he, too, 
was napping. As I lay there trembling with the 
fear of being apprehended, all the advice of those 
I had left behind rushed through my brain. Visions 
of these soldiers in the car coming after me crowded 
upon me in every conceivable shape ; every time I 
heard some restless passenger or one of the train 
men walk through the car, I could almost feel the 
hand touch me and hear the irons close around my 
wrists. After several stations had been passed, I 
ventured to peep out, and I was to some extent re- 
lieved to find the colonel had left the train. In a 
little while more the train stopped at Smyrna, and 
to our joy and unspeakable relief the soldiers de- 
parted and again we felt assured. ■ While we re- 
mained at Chester in the hospital, Capt. Slay had 
met among the visitors who came there, one or two 
ladies from Dover. These ladies had told him if 
he could escape and come to Dover they would do 
all they could to pass him on to Dixie. Accord- 
ingly on our arriyal at Doyer, he, against my judg- 



A RECOLLECTION Ot THE WAR. 11 

iiient, insisted on calling on these ladies. I had 
two reasons for not wanting him to do so : first, I 
feared that he might meet some one there before 
whom he would be forced to, or would explain him- 
self, and get us into trouble ; second, I knew that the 
sentiment in Delaware was to some extent divided, 
and his going to see these ladies would, if found 
out, cause them much annoyance if not very serious 
trouble ; so I declined to go with him. He went, 
however, alone, and after an hour I was delighted 
to see him return without having had any mishap. 
Having made arrangements for a very early start 
next morning, we laid down and slept soundly. 
A carriage was in waiting for us as soon as break- 
fast was over in the morning, and we started on a 
drive of 30 or 40 miles to Easton, Maryland. We 
had now gotten on to country' roads, away from 
railroads, etc., and began to feel for the time safe. 
The weather was fair, and while we could not con- 
verse on the subject uppermost in our minds (less 
the driver find us out), we managed to pass the 
day in a fairly comfortable manner. At a place 
called Greenville, I think it is near the dividing 
line between Delaware and Maryland, we stopped 
for dinner and to feed and refresh our horses. I 
recall now how astonished both Capt. Slay and my- 
self were at the time at the very moderate price 
charged us for three dinners, and horse feed, but 
we had been accustomed to paying Confederate 
prices for whatever we had, and the country prices 
of the Delaware peninsula were new to us. We 
reached Easton just at dusk, and after a hasty sup- 
per retired early as we considered it best to keep 
for the present, as much out of sight as possible. 
The next morning we dismissed our Dover equip- 
age, and started for a tramp of .11 miles to a part 
of the country where I knew we would find friends. 
That night we slept at the house of a gentleman 



12 A RECOLLECTION OE THE WAR. 

who has since held a place of some prominence 
under the State government. The next day after 
a drive of nine miles we took the good steamer 
" Kent " from Miles River Ferry, and again started 
for " Dixie." In boarding the steamer we were 
obliged to pass between United States soldiers on 
guard at the gangway. I did not at first under- 
stand this, but soon learned that there was a com- 
pany of negro recruits on the steamer, and the 
guard was placed to prevent any desertions from 
their ranks. The proximity of United States 
troops very naturally threw a feeling of unrest over 
us, but they paid no attention to us, and we did 
not, I assure you, in any way disturb them. 

In those days it was the custom for certain per- 
sons, patrons of the steamboat company, to row 
out from their farms and board the steamer in the 
stream. vShortly after leaving Miles River Ferry, 
the steamer stopped and there came on board from 
his farm Mr. Williams, of Baltimore. I had known 
him before I went south, but I had not seen him 
for several years, and I felt sure he would not re- 
cognize me. I took no pains, therefore, to keep 
clear of him, but stood boldly up by the side of the 
Provost in charge of the troops, looking on, as Mr. 
Williams came out in his boat. He came on board 
and walked right up to me and said, extending his 
hand, " Why, how are you, Davis ; I thought you 
were in the Southern Ami}'." All around us 
heard him ; all eyes centered on me. Slay picked 
up the steamer's Bible and began to read, and I — 
well I was simply paralyzed with fright. I looked 
him full in the face, however, and said, "You are 
mistaken, sir ; my name is Dawson." He apolo- 
gized, saying I looked very nuich like his friend 
Davis, but that he felt sure he was down South. 
He passed on ; I made some remark to the Provost 
and took a seat by Slay, much relieved. Years af- 



A rkcolle;cTion oi^ the war. 13 

terwards, on one occasion, I met Mr. Williams at 
a dinner in Baltimore, and he told me then he was 
sure he was right, and that he had spoken to the 
right man, but if he had been a detective on watch 
for me and known I was in that neighborhood, the 
coolness with which I answered him would have 
decived him. 

West River Landing was soon reached, and we 
started full tilt for the Potomac. It was about 60 
miles to the river, and both of us were feeling nearly 
played out. More than once we had thought that 
we had started from Chester in too enfeebled a con- 
dition, but there was no help now, and we must go 
ahead. Our course lay through a country where 
I knew^ we would be kindly received by most of the 
people, but I feared to go to a house lest there 
might be some who would not be glad to see us, 
so we trudged on without looking to right or left, 
until late into the night, when we laid down in the 
woods to rest. We were both so tired that when 
we waked the sun was shining brightly, and we 
hurried on. After a little while we met in the road 
an old gentleman on horseback, who seemed anxious 
to talk. At first we were shy of him, but before 
long we found he was in sympathy with the South 
and we told him who we were, and asked him to 
tell us where to get something to eat. He took us 
home, and ^fter plenty to eat and drink we shook 
hands with our old friend and departed on our way 
rejoicing. The next morning brought us to a 
place called Allen's Fresh, Charles county, Md, 
After spending a day and two nights here, trying 
to get a boat to cross the Potomac in, and having 
at last succeeded, we went to Chapel Point, on 
Port Tobacco bay. It is here that the old Catholic 
Church, "St. Thomas," is situated, and it is one 
of the oldest churches in this country. 

Having bought the boat, it was decided to wait 



14 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 

till the person from whom we obtained it, should 
be able to tell us that the river was clear of gun- 
boats, and transports ; this detained us for two 
nights longer. On the third night at 9 o'clock, 
we started to row across the river, which, inchid- 
ing the bay, was about five miles ; but we were 
doomed to disappointment. We lost our way, and 
after pulling about for several hours, we returned 
to where we started from, much to our disgust, and 
to the chagrin of the boatman. The next night 
we had better luck and about 12 o'clock we reached 
the Virginia shore, at Mathias Point ; scrambling 
up the river bank, we set off for Port Conway, 12 
miles distant, on the Rappahannock river. After 
a tramp of 10 miles and when we began to hope 
all w^as safe, a noise attracted our attention, and 
looking up we saw a soldier, gun and all, ahead 
of us, and the worst of it was he saw us. Too 
late to retreat, we had to approach him, and we 
did so with varied feelings of hope and fear. The 
fellow had on a pair of blue United States trousers, 
but a soft felt hat, and it was a question whether 
we had fallen on a Yankee, or a Johnnie. We 
soon found, however, that that " Yank" belonged 
to an Alabama regiment, and we were safe. The 
next day we took train for Richmond, and on the 
following morning this is what the papers said : 

" One by one our prisoners in the North continue- 
to make their escape from the torture and thraldom 
of the Yankee prisons. Among those, who have 
recently escaped and made their way to the South, 
are Captains Davis and Slay, who arrived safely 
here last evening. They were both wounded and 
taken prisoners at the Battle of Gettysburg ; they 
were first taken to Baltimore, thence to Chester, 
Pennsylvania, where they remained up to two 
weeks ago ; making their escape and wending their 
way through the States of Pennsylvania, Delaware, 



A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 15 

and Maryland, they succeeded in landing safely on 
the Virginia shore. On the way they met with 
man}^ friends who kindly assisted them to all they 
wanted. They were 13 days on the way, braving 
hnnger, fatigne and exposure. Both gentlemen 
belong to Major-Gen. TrimbalPs Division; Capt. 
Davis being one of his aids, and was shot through 
the right Inng ; Capt. Slay belongs to one of the 
Mississippi regiments, and was shot in the left arm. 
They left behind them at Chester 1,500 Confed- 
erates. 

The day after we arrived in Richmond, Slay and 
myself separated to visit our different friends. Once 
only did I afterwards see him. He, like myself, was 
prostrated by the exertion, and both of us were for 
a long time laid up with typhoid fever. Both re- 
covered, and in the late fall of '63 I saw Slay for 
the last time. When the spring campaign opened 
he returned to his regiment and the poor fellow 
was killed in the Battle of the Wilderness. 

Late in October, 1863, I reported for dut}-, and 
was assigned to Genl. Jno. H. Winder as A. A. I. 
G. and remained in Richmond until the following 
spring. I left Richmond on the 27th of May, 
1864, and after a brief stay at Goldsboro, N. C, 
(to which place Genl. Winder had been assigned 
to duty,) I was ordered on the 9th of June to pro- 
ceed to Andersonville, Ga. I arrived there June 
20th, and although I had left Genl. Winder at 
Goldsboro, I found on my arrival that he had 
reached Andersonville three days before me, namely, 
17th June, 1864, and although I have seen it stated 
that he took charge there in the previous April, I 
know that his first appearance at Andersonville 
was as above stated. At the time that I arrived 
the stockade was being enlarged. It had origi- 
nally been an enclosure of 18 acres, and intended 
to accommodate from six to ten thousand men, but 



16 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 

the rapidly increasing number pf prisoners caused 
the necessity of enlarging the enclosure, and an 
additional 10 acres was added, making 28 acres in 
all. The mode of building the stockade was as 
follow^s : 

A trench four feet deep and two feet wide was 
dug, and after large pine trees had been he\vn square 
they were set up in the trench as close together as 
possible, four feet in the ground and 20 feet above 
ground, the upper end being sharpened to a point. 
There was only one row of fence, inside of which 
and 20 feet tl;erefrom, was the " dead line" which 
was a line of posts about four feet high with a 
plank four inches wide, nailed from post to post. 
This was all the enclosure called " The Stockade" 
at Andersonville. 

I had been at Andersonville only four days when 
Gen. Winder sent me back to Richmond with let- 
ters to Gen. Sam'l Cooper, Adjt. Gen., urging the 
necessity of more prison room, and also dwelling 
on the importance that no more prisoners should 
be sent to Andersonville for two reasons : first, 
they were already over-crowded, and it was even 
then with much difficulty that provisions could be 
had to feed them, and an}- further addition to their 
number would increase this difficulty ; second, he 
urged the fact that the risk of keeping so large a 
number of prisoners at one place was exceedingly 
dangerous, when it was considered that they were 
guarded only by old men and boys., the former 
over 60 years of age, the latter less than 18, and 
again that there were a very few, even of these, so 
few indeed that it rendered the force entirely inad- 
equate for the duty required of them. In order to 
verify my recollections about the above referred to 
letter, I wrote to Capt. W. S. Winder, in whose 
possession is the original order book used at Ander- 
sonville^ and asked him to send me a copy of the 



A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 17 

order sending me to Richmond, and also a copy of 
the letter I took to the Adjntant General. lam, 
therefore, throuoh his kindness, enabled to give the 
order and the fnll text of the letter. Capt. Winder 
writes as follows : 

Mr. S. B. Davis, 

At vonr reqnest I give below copy of the order 
sending yon to Richmond from Andersonville and 
also a copy of the letter which yon took to Crcn, 
Cooper, Adjt. and Inspector Gen. 
Vonrs trnly, 

W. vS. Winder. 

Headquarters Post Camp Snmpter. ^ 

Andersonville, Ga., Jnne 24th, 1864. S 

Special Order No. 110. 

T -S * * « * * * 

II. Lieut. S. Boyer Davis, A. .\. I. G., will pro- 
ceed at once to Richmond, Virginia, and report to 
the Adjt. and Inspector Gen. with certain import- 
ant documents and papers, and return to this post 
as soon as he has accomplished his purpose. 

TTT » * * * * * * 

T -I T 4t ^ ^- ^ ■% * * 

By order of Brig. -Gen. J. H. Winder, 

W. vS. W^inder, 

A. A. G. 

Camp Sumpter, ) 

Andersonville, Georgia, > 
June 24th, 1864. > 
General — 

The pressing necessity of the post and the great 
irregularity of the mails, ha\e induced me to send 
Lieutenant Davis with this letter, though I can 
very illy spare his services as he is one of my most 
efficient assistants. 



18 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 

The state of affairs at this post is in a critical 
condition. 

We have here largely over 24,000 prisioners of 
war and 1205 very raw troops — Georgia Reserves, 
with the measels prevailing, badly armed and worse 
disciplined to guard them. The prisoners rendered 
more desperate from the necessarily nncomfortable 
condition in which they are placed. 

With the present force, a raid on the post wonld 
almost of necessity be successfnl, as the prisoners 
wonld occnpy the attention of the troops. I do 
most conscientionsly think the force should be 
largely reinforced, and I respectfully ask that it be 
done with the least possible delay 

There has been and I am satisfied that there is 
now going on, a correspondence in the prison, with 
disaffected persons outside and I have every reason 
to believe that just before my arrival an agent of 
Gen. Sherman had been here tampering with the 
prisoners. From the information I have been able 
to collect since I have been here, I am satisfied 
that there is a portion of the population around 
here who ought to be looked after, and who actively 
sympathize with the prisoners. In order to enable 
me to watch and counteract this influence, I respect- 
fully ask that Capt. D. W. Vowles, with a detailed 
man by the name of Weatherford, on the police at 
Richmond, and two other well selected detectives, 
be ordered to Report to me immediately. 

It is difficult for those at a distance to realize the 
great responsibility of the command of this post, 
and the great danger of a successful outbreak 
among the prisoners; 25,000 men by the mere 
force of numbers can accomplish a great deal. If 
successful, the result would be much more disas- 
trous than a defeat of the armies. It would re- 
sult in the total ruin and devastation of this whole 
section of country ; every house would be burned, 



A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 19 

violence to the women, destniction of crops, carry- 
ing off negroes, horses, mules and wagons. It is 
almost impossible to estimate the extent of such a 
disaster ; a little timely, prudent preparation will 
render it impossible. 

The rawness of the troops, the almost impossi- 
bility of getting a court-martial from the " Depart- 
ment of South Carolina and Georgia," and other 
circumstances connected with the prisoners, renders 
it very necessary that I should have the power to 
order court-martials, and I respectfully request that 
such an arrangement be made. 

Let me again press upon the attention of the 
Department the great danger hanging over this 
post, and to the necessary steps to avert it. An- 
other prison should be immediately established as re- 
commended in 7ny former letter^ and that 7io more 
prisoners be sent to this post. The force is becom- 
ing too ponderous, and, indeed, it is not possible 
with my present means to extend the post fast 
enough to meet the demands ; within the last four 
daj'S we have discovered two extensi\'e tunnels 
reaching outside the stockade, showing great in- 
dustry and determination on the part of the 
prisoners. I am, very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

John H. Winder, 

Brig. -Gen. 
To Gen. S. Cooper, 

Adjt. and In. -Gen., Richmond, Va. 

P. S. — We have just discovered a tunnel reaching 
130 feet outside the stockade. 

My trip to Richmond was an uneventful one, 
save of such trouble as can be rightly looked for 
on such a journey and in time of war. The Peters- 
burg and Weldon railroad had been cut by the 
Federals, and I was obliged to run the gauntlet of 



20 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 

both armies on a hand car. Once a party of Con- 
federate Cavalry rushed in on several of us, and 
we came very near being shot by them. I reached 
Richmond in safety and delivered my letter, and 
next morning was sent to see President Jefferson 
Davis, that he might question me personally in re- 
gard to all matters connected with Andersonville. 
On my arrival back at Andersonville on the 18th 
of July, I found that in compliance with tele- 
graphic and written instructions which had pre- 
ceded me. Major Griswold had been sent to Ala- 
bama, and Captains Vowles and W. S. Winder to 
other localities to select and build other prisons as 
rapidly as possible. All this could not be done as 
rapidly as the emergency demanded, and the pris- 
oners continued to crowd in on Andersonville, 
simpl}- because there was nowhere else to send 
them, and to this fact may be laid a part of the 
suffering at Andersonville. 

Owing to there being nowhere else to send them, 
and on account of the refusal of the Federal Gov- 
ernment to exchange Federal prisoners, the follow- 
ing order had been issued : 

Adjt. Inspector-Gen. Office, ^ 
Richmond, Va., May 2d, 1864. 5 

General Order No. 45. 

I. Prisoners captured south of Richmond will be 
sent direct to Andersonville, Sumpter count v, 
Georgia. 

(Signed) Samuel Cooper, 

A. and In. -Gen. 

On the 21st July, 1864, I was ordered to take 
charge of the prison at Macon, where there were 
1,200 officers confined. T was in charge there 
about two weeks. I do not think there was any 
more complaint among the prisoners at Macon 



A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 21 

than there is likeh- to be among a crowd of men 
confined and not allowed to do as they please ; but 
it was not a nice place to spend the summer, and 
there were innumerable efforts, and, I am sure, 
some successful attempts made to escape. I recol- 
lect once being at the gate when a cart doing some 
hauling was on its way out of the prison ; behind 
came a man black as the ace of spades, with a 
shovel over his shoulders, pretending to be a lab- 
orer, but I saw the poor fellow was a soldier and 
had him stopped and locked up until some of his 
comrades could furnish him with a pair of blue 
trousers, when he was returned to the prison and his 
friends. 

xA-fter I had been at Macon a short time, some of 
the officers who were paroled came to me and said 
that they had heard that a friend of theirs (a colo- 
nel), who was with<|toneman in his raid, and who 
had been mortally wounded, was in a hospital in 
Macon, and was very anxious to see one or two of 
the officers confined in the prison, in order to send 
his last messages to his wife and family. Upon 
inquiry, I found the case to be a bona fide one, and 
I sent the prison Adjutant with the two officers to 
to visit the wounded colonel. The officers were 
under parole, and I sent no guard, save the adju- 
tant ; he to act more as a guide and as protection 
than anything else. They returned in an hour. 
The next morning I was relieved by the Colonel 
commanding the post and returned to Anderson- 
ville. 

On my arrival there I asked for a court-martial, 
but after hearing from the officer commanding at 
Macon, Gen. Winder refused to call a trial, and he 
said I had only done what any kind and humane 
man would have done under the circumstances. 
J\Iy only object in reciting the above incident is to 
show that Gen. Winder was not the harsh and cruel 



22 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 

mail that some persons have seen fit to describe 
him, but that this was one instance at least when 
he commended an officer for kindness to a prisoner. 

The next day, after the above matter was settled, 
I was ordered to assist Capt. Wirz, in charge of the 
prison at Anersonville. This was brought about 
by Wirz being quite sick. I had only been on 
duty as above stated for a day or two, when he 
(Wirz) was taken seriously ill, and I was put in 
charge in his place. 

As near as I can get at the dates from some old 
papers I have, I think it was on the 13tli or 14th 
of August that I relieved Capt. Wirz. 

It may be well, before telling what I saw both 
inside and outside the prison, to look at the selec- 
tion of the place, wli}- it was selected, and how and 
what was done before prisoners were sent there. 

There appeared in the Ar?£' York Day Book^ 
under date of October 14, 1865, and also (on ac- 
count of demand for copies of that edition ) on Jan- 
uary 13, 1866, an article which tells so much truth 
about the selection of Andersonville, the difficulties 
surrounding its completion, and other things con- 
nected therewith, that I may be pardoned for mak- 
ing many extracts from it. 

" The Federal pressure around Richmond, which 
rendered the receipt of supplies precarious, and 
the raids invited in hopes of releasing prisoners 
there, rendered the presence of so many prisoners 
a serious incumbrance." 

It was determined to remove those then there, 
to the extent of 6000, to some place south where 
there would be the least danger from raids, and less 
transportation necessary of supplies for the prison- 
ers. An officer was appointed with instructions 
to select a site on the Southwestern railroad, hav- 
ing reference to the following points : "A liealthy 
locality, plenty of pure, good water, a running 



A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 23 

stream, and if possible shade trees, and in immedi- 
ate neighborhood of grist and saw mills." 

I am able to insert here a cop}- of the original 
order to Capt. Winder to select site for prison. 

Headquarters Department of Henrico, ^ 
Richmond, November 24th, 1863. $ 
Captaiji — 

The vSecretar}' of War directs that a prison for 
Federal Prisoners shall be established in the State 
of Georgia. The General commanding the de- 
partment directs that yon proceed without delay 
to select a site for that purpose in the neighbor- 
hood of Americus or Fort Valley, a town between 
Macon and Andersonville. 

You will go by way of Milledgeville to consult 
Gov. Brown ; and also by way of Atlanta to con- 
sult Gen. Cobb. 

You will hold yourself in readiness to return to 
these Headquarters as soon as ordered. 
Very respectfully. 

Your obedient servant, 

J. M. Pegram, 
Capt. W. S. Winder, A. A. Gen. 

A. A. Gen. 

Capt. Winder did call upon Gov. Brown, at Mil- 
ledgeville, and the legislature being in session the 
Governor introduced him to many of the members 
from southwestern Georgia, with the request that 
they would assist him by any suggestions they 
might have to make. 

From the Governor and members of the legisla- 
ture he received letters of introduction to many 
prominent men of Americus and Albany. After 
leaving Milledgeville, Capt. Winder went to At- 
lanta to consult Gen. Howell Cobb, then in com- 
mand of that department, and received from him 
letters to several prominent citizens. 



24 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 

Could it be possible to have given instructions 
more explicit,, or more in accordance with the 
desire to care for the comforts of the unfortunate 
men to be confined there. Did I sav "comforts?" 
Of these there were none ; nor have I seen any 
comfort in any prison, and I have been accorded 
the opportunity of judging- from the outside, in 
the South, as well as on the inside; at Johnson's 
Island, Fort Delaware, Military Prison at Albany 
and Fort Warren, as well as various smaller prisons 
where I was temporarily kept. I wish, however, 
to show that the persons who ordered the selection 
of Andersonville, the person who selected it and 
the officer in command there, were influenced by 
the humane wish to do all they could for the men 
whom the Federal Government forced to be con- 
fined there, and I call attention in the first place to 
the above given extract, viz : 

"A healthy locality, plenty of pure w^ater, a run- 
ning stream, and if possible shade trees, and in im- 
mediate neighborhood of grist and saw mills," and 
I say truly that these requirements were fulfilled 
as far as could be, except in the one fact that there 
were no shade trees. If it be asked why there 
were no shade trees, I answer : all through the pine 
tree country and in the light sandy soil that 'pro- 
duce the tall Georgia pine, you will find that 
whenever a house is to be built that the first move 
is to cut down all pine trees within reach of the 
house ; that is all trees which by falling could fall 
on or in the immediate vicinity of the house. It 
is well-known that the roots of tall pines have an 
insufBcient hold on the light soil that produces 
them, and hence the necessity to remove the tree. 
The trees at Andersonville were cut down for this 
reason — all the trees that were in- the enclosure 
were pine. Like the writer of the article referred 
to I never have heard the healthiness of the local- 



A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 2,^ 

ity questioned, and to stiM further show that this 
was one point made necessary in the selection of a 
prison site. One writer, named Spencer, in his 
bitter comments on Andersonville and those con- 
nected therewith, admits in his book that an officer 
was sent to visit various places in search of a suit- 
able and healthy site. Among- others, one in the 
town of Albany, Dougherty county, Ga. "It is 
supposed, however," says the writer, "that the 
opposition of those holding interest near the place, 
coupled with arguments of its unhealthfulness was 
sufficient to prevent its selection." 

As to the water, there was running through the 
stockade, at Andersonville, a stream at least 20 or 
25 feet wide ; it had its origin in two large springs 
half a mile above the prison ; immediately before 
entering the prison, the two streams issuing from 
these springs formed a junction, and the stream 
thus formed ran through the prison ; it never went 
dry ; it had a constant flow, and alwa}-s one way. 
That portion of the stream within the prison was 
divided into three parts. The first, where it entered 
the stockade, was used as drinking water ; in the 
center of the enclosure for bathing purposes ; 
but, alas, I fear this part \vas seldom, if ever, used, 
while near its exit from the place w^as used for 
sinks, etc. I am. very well aware that great stress 
has been laid on the water question ; that the 
water was polluted before it reached the prison b)- 
persons in the cook house just outside ; this cook- 
ery was run by paroled prisoners, and if the water 
was defiled in any way it w^as done by them ; is it 
likel) they would do so knowing their comrades 
had it to drink ? The guards who were stationed 
at the gate drank of the same w^ater ; could it have 
been hurt by simply passing under the fence ? Be- 
sides this stream, there were many wells in the 
stockade 5 vSome were dug by the prisoners them- 



26 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 

selves and some by the Confederate anthorities. 
But I have known prisoners to dig and claim a 
well and refuse to give a drink of water therefrom 
to one of their suffering comrades unless he paid 
for it. 

' ' In regard to the sufferings and mortality among 
the prisoners at iVndersonville, none of it arose from 
the unhealthiness of the locality. The food, 
though the same as that used by the Confeder- 
ate soldiers, the bread, too, being corn, was differ- 
ent from that to which they had been accustomed, 
did not agree with them, and scurvy and diarrhoea 
prevailed to a considerable extent. Neither disease, 
however, is the result of starvation.'' — New York 
Day Book, Jan. 13, 1866. 

That some of the prisoners confined at Ander- 
sonville did not get their full allowance, I doubt 
not is true ; but whose fault was it? During' the 
time that I was there, the latter part of x^ugnst, 
1864, there were in operation outside the prison 
and under the supervision of a competent person, 
assisted by paroled prisoners, a very large bakery, 
the necessary appliances for which, such as ovens, 
etc., were brought all the way from Richmond ; 
also a large cook-house, where soup was made and 
where beans, meat, etc., were cooked, prisoners 
being detailed for these purposes. They cooked 
and baked the bread, corn bread, it is true, which 
could only (unaccustomed as they were to it) of 
necessity disagree with them ; but it was all the 
Confederate soldiers had, and it was all that could be 
had. It is well known now that very little wheat 
was grown in the cotton growing region, the people 
depending for wheat, flour and bacon on the West- 
ern States. It was impossible to feed prisoners on 
an article which was more than a luxury ; it was 
impossible to get wheat bread even for hospitals, 
■^beat was a r^fity, npt only 3t i^ndersonviUe, b\i|; 



A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 27 

everywhere else in the Confederacy. I was sent 
with official papers on one occasion from the War 
Department at Richmond to Gen. Lee's headquart- 
ers at Orange Courthouse. I arrived at night, 
about 1 o'clock. The next morning I was asked 
to breakfast with Gen. Lee and his military family. 
On the table in front of the General was a little 
piece of wheat bread, possibly 4 inches long, 2 
inches wide and 3 inches thick. . The good old 
gentleman asked each one at the table to have a 
piece, but all of us knew the scarcity of such food, 
and each one refused and ate corn bread. If the 
officers at the Commanding General's table ate corn 
bread, why not the prisoners at Andersonville? As 
to the exact weight of each portion of meat or other 
articles of food issued to the men, I am unable to 
say ; but I am able to say this much of my own 
personal knowledge : the prisoners got the same 
rations per man as was issued to the men who did 
guard duty over them. Could the authorities be 
expected to give more to the prisoners than to their 
own men? While on this subject let me add one 
or two extracts that bear ver}- forcibh' on the mat- 
ter of quantity in the issuing of rations at Ander- 
sonville. In an article originally written for the 
Southern Magazine^ by Mr. L. M. Parke, of La 
Grange, Ga., he says : 

" I was for three months a clerk in the Commis- 
sary Department at Andersonville, and it was my 
business to weigh out rations for the guards and 
prisoners alike, and I solemnly assert that the pris- 
oners got ounce for ounce and pound for pound of 
just the same quality and quantity of food as did 
the guards. 

I find in the Southern Historical Society Papers 
of March, 1876, a statement from Mr. Jno. F. Frost, 
a resident of Maine, who had an actual experience 
of eleven months in x'Vndersonville prison. He 
sa\'s as follows : 



28 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 

" I was orderly of Capt. Folger's Company, 
19tli Maine ; was made prisoner at Petersbnrg in 
Jnne, 1864, and was at Andersonville eleven 
months, or until the war ended. There was suf- 
fering' among the men who were sick from lack of 
medicines and delicacies, but all had their rations 
as fully and regularly as did the Confederate guard. 
There were times of scarcity, when supply trains 
were cut off by the Federal forces, and at such 
times I have known the guard to offer to buy the 
prisoners rations, being very short themselves. On 
these occasions the guards would take a portion of 
their scanty supplies from the people of the country 
to feed the prisoners. The Rebels were anxious to 
effect an exchange and get the prisoners off their 
hands, but it was reported and believed among the 
prisoners that the Federal authorities refused. At 
one time I was with a detail of 3,000 prisoners who 
were marched 200 miles to the coast to be ex- 
changed, but it was declined by the Federal author- 
ities, as was reported, and we marched back with 
no enviable feelings. I believe that the larger' 
share of the responsibility for the suffering in that 
prison belonged to our own government. Wirz 
was harsh and cruel to the prisoners, and deserved 
hanging ; but I believe the Confederate authorities 
did as well as they could for the prisoners in the 
matter of clothing, provisions and medicines." 

As to the distribution of provisions during my 
stay at Andersonville, they were hauled in to the 
Stockade on wagons and distributed, not by Con- 
federates, but by detailed prisoners, several of 
whom accompanied each wagon. These men could 
have had no reason to defraud their own comrades. 
Why should they ? The amount was in the wagons 
for all. The parties had ample opportunity to re- 
port any partiality or wrong doing on the part of 
the distributing agents, and they and the others 



A RECOLLECTION OE THE WAR. "29 

knew if the reports were well founded the man 
would be removed, and he knew that his removal 
from the position of distributor meant at least de- 
privation of liberties, as well as loss of an extra 
supply of rations. 

I recall now an instance bearing- on this subject. 
Some of the prisoners came to me one morning 
and said that one of the distributors, Staunton by 
name, had badly beaten one of the prisoners, be- 
cause he had attempted either to steal an extra al- 
lowance or had terribly abused him (Staunton) 
about the distribution of provisions. The}' assured 
me it was not Staunton's fault, that he had only 
done his duty ; but they also said it would be 
very unsafe for him (Staunton) to be left inside 
the prison, as the worst element of the men had 
threatened to kill him if possible. I was unwilling 
to act in the matter unadvisedly, or, I should say, 
without first knowing the whole state of each side 
of the case, and at the same time I did not care to 
investigate it myself. At that time the better class 
of prisoners had arranged a court for trial of such of- 
fences ; a court similar to the one which in June had 
tried, convicted'and executed six of their comrades 
for murder and robbery. I therefore told the prison- 
ers they must try Staunton themselves, and if they 
cleared him I would see he was not injured ; while 
if, after a fair trial, they found him guilty, I would 
stand by the findings of the court. In order that 
that the man (Staunton) might not be injured be- 
fore trial, I took him outside of the prison and 
kept him under guard until next morning, when 
he was returned to the custody of the prisoner's 
court for trial. After a day's sitting the court sent 
me word that they had fully investigated the trouble 
and that Staunton had only done his duty. The 
feeling, however, of the rough element of the pris- 
oners was decidedly against him, and it was as- 



30 A RECOLI.ECTION OF THE WAR. 

serted that if he was cleared b}- the court that he 
would be killed by the prisoners. After his being 
cleared, the court was afraid to make public their 
finding, less a riot be brought about, and I was 
sent for to come to the gate of the prison, and told 
of the finding of the court, and requested to take 
Staunton out, as the court and its officers, while 
they could protect the prisoner for the present, 
were unwilling to take the risk of keeping the man 
in the prison after night, and when it should be 
known that he had been cleared of the charge. 
This risk was increased, as the man who had been 
beaten was badly hurt, and his friends were hourly 
growing more and more clamorous about the matter. 
I went into the stockade myself, against the advice 
of my informant, rode to the court tent, and plac- 
ing Staunton in front of my horse started for the 
gate. I was forced several times to stop and de- 
mand of the surging crowd passage-way for the 
prisoner. Finally we got to the gate, and Staun- 
ton was afterwards kept outside. 

As to the sub-distribution of rations, after it left 
the wagon distributor, I know little. I have been 
inside the stockade and seen provisions distributed 
from the wagons, and I have afterwards seen the 
men dividing their allowance into as many portions 
as there were men in the squad, and a blind-folded 
man calling out the names or number of each in- 
dividual as the head man of the squad pointed to a 
portion with his finger or a stick. This plan was 
adopted by the prisoners in order that no partiality 
could be shown, and to prevent grumljling over an 
unfair division of rations, and was, I suppose, as 
good a plan as possibl}- could be tried under the 
circumstances. 

" In regard to sanitary regulations, there were 
certain prescribed places and modes for the recep- 
tion of all filth, and a sluice was made to carrv it 



A RECOLLECTION OV THE WAR. 31 

off ; but the most abominable disregard was mani- 
fested towards all sanitary regulations, and to such 
a degree that if a conspiracy had been entered into 
by a large number of the prisoners to cause the 
utmost filth and stench, it could not have accom- 
plished a more disgusting result. Beside which 
there was a large number of atrocious villians, 
whose outrages in robbing, beating and murdering 
their fellow prisoners must have been the cause, 
directly or remotely, of very many deaths, and of 
an inconceivable amount of suffering." — JVezc York 
Day Book, Jan. 13, 1866. 

It has been said by some persons, and will doubt- 
less be said again, that it was the duty of those in 
charge to make the men obey and attend to the 
rules and regulations. That may be so under some 
circumstances, but where you are forced on account 
of unavoidable reasons to huddle together thirty- 
four or thirty-five thousand men, with only twelve 
or fifteen hundred to guard them, you cannot spare 
men to superintend the cleanliness of each indi- 
vidual . It was for this reason that the prisoners 
were allowed to organize a police force of their 
own, establish laws for protection and sanitary 
benefits ; but it seems that they either would not 
or could not carry out the rules adopted, which 
were sufiicienth' good, had they been properly en- 
forced. 

I believe that if the greater part of the prisoners 
had so elected they could have forced those among 
them who were inclined to disregard cleanliness 
and health to pay attention to sanitary regulations. 
It is a well-known fact that when what were known 
as ' ' the Raiders ' ' were in full force in the stock- 
ade, and were day and night murdering and robbing 
their fellows, then the better men came forward 
and joined together to put down and punish the 
jnarariders ; they ^ske4 th? lielp of the Confederate 



32 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 

authority. In a piece written on Andersonville by 
a prisoner who was in the stockade a long time, he 
says : " They granted our request at once, and sent 
in twenty or thirty of their best men, armed with 
revolvers, to assist us in hunting out the despera- 
does." And again, he says : '' Wirz furnished the 
material for a scaffold and guarded the six unfor- 
tiinate ones until the appointed day, then de- 
livered them o\-er to us for execution without fur- 
ther assistance on his part." — Century, July or 
Aug., 1890. 

At least the}' were assisted by Capt. Wirz in this 
matter promptly. Now let me quote from the 
same writer again : 

"A league had been formed bv the better class 
of prisoners. This league, or police, as they were 
called, was ever after kept up, and constituted it- 
self into a complete government for the stockade." 
Now, if this league or police " constituted itself a 
complete government for the stockate," why did 
they not look after the sanitary condition of the 
stockade ? The filthy condition of it was causing 
more deaths and suffering among the prisoners 
than the raiders. The league government would 
have been sustained and aided in any effort to keep 
the prison clean as freely and fully as they w^ere 
aided and sustained in the case of the raiders. 

Very much has been said of the cruelt}' to pris- 
oners at Andersonville. The stocks and chain- 
gang were punishments used ; but I have never 
heard of a man being tied up by the thumbs — a 
mode of punishment not only in common use in 
Federal prisons on Confederate soldiers, but fre-. 
quently used in United States Army ; a punish- 
ment the brutality of which is only equalled by 
the thumb-screws of the inquisition. 

As to the promiscuous shooting of men by Wirz 
himself, or by the sentinels, for the sake of getting 



A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 33 

furloughs, a charge I have several tiuies seeu in 
print, it is sensational bosh, written and told onl\- 
to stir up animosity and hate. No furlough was 
ever issued at Andersonville for such a reason. 
Such a charge is not worth a thought, nor ha\e I 
ever heard an}- one make any specified charge of 
shooting against Capt. Wirz since his trial. I do 
remember that during his trial I was confined in 
the prison at Albanv ; that I was run off to Fort 
Warren in order to keep me from being taken, at 
Wirz request, to Washington to prove that on the 
specified dates upon which he was charged with 
murder, which charge was sworn to by three wit- 
nesses. I was in charge of the Andersonville 
prison, and Wirz in Augusta, Ga. 

In the Century of August, 1890, there appears 
on page 610 the following : 

" The question has often been asked of Ander- 
sonville prisioners, did the commander of the 
prison, Capt. Henrv Wirz, ever really murder a 
prisoner? Yes, and under my own personal obser- 
vation. On one occasion he rode into the stockade 
accompanied by two or three attendants also on 
horseback ; the object of his visit was to demand 
that the Chief of the Union League be delivered 
up to him, of the crowd that collected about him, 
not one in fifty knew that such a league existed, 
and of the actual members of the league few knew 
who the chief was. Wirz was ver}- soon informed 
to that effect, which seemed to rouse the demon 
within him, so that he swore frightfulh- at the 
crowd that gathered about him.''' 

" He soon turned to retire from the prison, and 
while nearly within the gateway drew his heavy 
revolver and shot the whole six barrels into the 
crowd of emaciated star\'ing wretches who had col- 
lected about him, without stopping to discover the 
effects of his shooting he put spurs to his horse, 



34 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR.' 

sprang out through the gate and galloped away 
from the stockade. Two men were killed out-right 
b}' his shots and several others were wounded." 

The date of this alleged shooting is not given, 
Wirz was not accustomed to be accompanied by 
mounted attendants, and if on any special occasion 
he was so attended it was in all probability by 
officers of Gen. Winder's staff" or artillery officers, 
these would certainly have reported such an action 
on the part of Wirz or anyone else. I cannot be- 
lieve any such improbable statement. I never 
heard of it and I was m a position to know of it, 
had it occurred while I was at Andersonville or 
temporarily absent. I have written, however, to 
Capt. W. S. Winder to ask if he ever heard of such 
an occurrence, and the following is what he says : 

" Such a thing could not have occurred without 
some of the officers of the guard knowing it, and 
they never would have been willing to have ap- 
proved of it by their silence." 

Some of the officers of the Florida Artillery 
would certainly have heard the shooting, and wit- 
nessed the excitement, and would never have per- 
mitted Wirz to have escaped the punishment he 
would have deser^-ed. 

For such an act to have occurred in such a pub- 
lic place and in such a public manner would have 
attracted the attention of hundreds of people out- 
side the stockade. I can and do most positively 
assert that I never heard of that case ; and, I do 
not hesitate to denounce this charge as a most 
outrageous and wicked one ; and I do most 
positively say, that I never heard of Capt. Wirz 
shooting any prisoner as was charged on his 
trial, nor have I ever seen any one who had heard 
of such shooting. Such a thing could not ha\'e 
occurred without hundreds of people inside and 
oittside the stockade knowini^ of the fact. 



. A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 35 

At Andersonville there were more than 1,500 
prisoners out on parole in the Quartermaster's, 
Commissary and Medical Departments, and these 
men saw and knew everything that was going on 
at the post. You were in charge of the prison for 
some weeks, was it possible for you to have shot 
into the crowd of prisoners at the gate, then dash 
out on horseback without being seen by the guard 
at the gate? ''I think not," I am convinced 
Wirz never did this shooting ; it looks as if it were 
like the alleged shooting of one Chicamauga by 
Wirz, an account of which one Spencer gives in 
his book. He wrote just after Wirz's trial, and 
which is based on that trial ' ' An iVndersonville 
Union Prisoner; " savs of it in the Brooklv Eagle 
of 27th July, '66: 

"I was present when this more than miserable man 
was shot, his own men had been beating him, crip- 
ple as he was, they having charged him with giving 
information to Wirz about a tunnel some of the 
prisoners had made, but which was discovered. 
He rushed from them, threw himself imder the 
dead line, demanded of Wirz to be taken outside ; 
Wirz told him to go back and left the platform. 
' ' Chicamauga ' ' went off, but again came back and 
threw himself once more under the dead line. 
The guard begged the bystanders to take him 
away; they attempted to do so, but he beat them 
off with his crutch, and defied the guard to shoot 
him. The guard "did shoot him, but Wirz was not 
present, and experienced Union soldiers (prisoners) 
said the guard had no alternative." 

There have been many sensational stories told of 
the cruelty at Andersonville, particularly about 
Wirz shooting and otherwise maltreating pris- 
oners. But on the trial were two priests, 
Fathers Whelan and Hamilton, summoned 
by the prosecution as witnesses against 



36 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 

Wirz. "They were in the stockade day after day 
for nine months, holding the closest relations to 
those to whom they were indeed ministering angels, 
who had opportnnities, if any one had, of seeing 
and hearing everything that took place in and 
around the stockade, they swore that Capt. Wirz 
gave them every facility to attend the sick and 
dying ; that he welcomed them to the stockade 
when they first came there, and they swore they 
never heard or knew that Wirz shot, or beat, 
or maltreated a single prisoner at Andersonville." 

"On the trial five or six of the most intelligent 
and respectable men that entered Andersonville 
gave similar testimony" — Brooklxn Eagle ^ Jnlv 
27, '66. 

I cannot let the subject of Andersonville pass 
until I have looked at an order, which an article 
in the Century of August, 1890, tells us was is- 
sued 27tli July, 1864, at Andersonville. It is an 
order at one time known as "Order No. 13;" 
then it has been called a circular ; which was it, or 
was it ever issued ? Much trouble has been taken 
to look the matter up, and as I am in possession of 
pretty good evidence that no such order ever ex- 
isted, I beg to add here what has been collected on 
the subject. 

The following statement has been furnished me 
by Capt. W. S. Winder. 

The Order, as it appeared in the Congressional 
Record oi 22d April, 1890, is as follows: 

" Order No. 13." 

" Headquarters Militarv Prison," \ 
Andersonville, July 27th, 1864. S 

The officers on duty and in charge of the Florida 
Artillery, at the time, will, upon receiving notice 
that the enemy has approached within seven miles 



A RECOIXECTION OF THE WAR, 37 

of post, open upon the stockade with grape shot 
withont reference to the situation beyond these 
lines of defense. John H. Winder, 

Brig. -Gen. Com. 

When this order was first published it was denied 
that any such order had been issued ; but that de- 
nial seems to have had no effect, and recently it has 
appeared in the newspapers, and what is remark- 
able there seems to be several versions of the same 
order. The Baltimore Herald of September 23d, 
1887, contains the following dispatch: 

Chicago, 111., September 22d. 
The Federal Ex-prisoners Association is in ses- 
sion in this city. 

Gen. Pavey in his address read the following 
circular issued at Andersonville : 

Headquarters ) 

Confederate States Military Prison, > 

Andersonville, Ga., July 27th, 1864. ) 

The officers on dut}- and in charge of the Battery 
of Florida Artillery, at the time, will, upon receiv- 
ing notice that the enemy have appeared within 
seven miles of the post, open fire upon the stock- 
ade with grape-shot without reference to the situa- 
tion beyond these lines of defense. 

It is better that the last Federal be exterminated 
than he be permitted to burn and pillage the prop- 
erty of loyal citizens, as they will do if allowed to 
make their escape from prison. 

By order of John H. Winder, 

W. S. Winder, Brig. -Gen. 

Adjt.-Gen. 

These orders are supposed to be the same, but 
they differ very materially. The one which is 
published in the speech of Mr. Morse is simply an 



38 A RECOLLECTION OE THE WAR. 

order. The circular as read by Gen. Pavey (it 
will be seen is not called Order No. 13) gives in 
addition the reason for issuing it as a part of the 
order. One had the heading " Headquarters Con- 
federate States Military Prison ; ' ' one is signed b}' 
Gen. Winder, the other by his Adjutant-General. 
When Gen. Winder went to Anderson ville, in 
June, 1864, he continued the use of the order 
book and letter book, at Headquarters, as used by 
Col. Person, who had been in command. The 
last General Order issued, by Col. Person, was No. 
44, dated June 14th, 1864. The first General Or- 
der issued, by Gen. Winder, was No. 45, dated 
June 17th, 1864 (this was the order assuming com- 
mand of the post). The last Special Order issued, 
by Col. Person, was No. 103, dated June 16th, 
1864. The first Special Order issued, by Gen. 
Winder was 104, dated June 18th, 1864. 

It is clearly proven by the above statement that 
there was no such order as No. 13 issued by Gen. 
Winder. As for myself, (W. S. Winder) I am 
prepared to state, under oath, that I never saw, 
signed or heard of any such order said to have been 
issued by me as Adjutant General. 

Capt. C. E. Dyke who commanded the Florida 
Artillery, in a letter to me (W. S. Winder) dated 
Tallahassee, Fla., February 7th, 1876, says: 

The order purporting to be No. 13, dated July 
27th, 1864, Mr. Blaine recited in his first speech 
on the Amnesty Bill, directing the officers of my 
command, upon receiving notice that the enemy 
have approached within seven miles of the post, 
to open fire upon the stockade with grape-shot. I 
have not the remotest recollection of ever having 
received such an order ; it was inconsistent with 
Gen. Winder's character. 

The following letter is from E. W. Gamble, 
Esq., a well-known citizen of Tallahassee, Florida, 



A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 39 

who was a lieutenant in the Battery of F'lorida 
Artillery during the time it was stationed at 
Andersonville : 

Tallahassee, Fla., May 19th, 1890. 

W. S. Winder, 

No. 2117 St. Paul street, 
Baltimore, Md.: 

Sir — Yours of the 4th, came while I was away 
from home, calling my attention to the following 
order purporting to have been given to the Florida 
Light Artillery then at Andersonville, Ga. 

(Mr. Gamble here quotes Order No. 13). 

I have to say so, far as I know this is a malic- 
ious slander, as no such order was ever given to the 
Battery, and I feel sure my Captain, Charles E. 
Dyke, would have made me acquainted of it, as 
the officers of the company took each a day to be 
on duty at the guns and it would have been neces- 
sary for each of us to have known of such an 

order. 

******** 

Yours truly, 

E. W. Gamble. 

Col. F. B. Pavy, now a citizen of Florida, a 
gentleman well-known and highly esteemed, was 
first sergeant of the Battery of Florida Artillery 
while it was stationed at Andersonville, has writ- 
ten the following letter : 

Savannah, Ga., May 12, 1890. 

IV. S. Winder, Esq., 
Baltimore, Md.: 

My Dear Sir — I am in receipt of your esteemed 
favor of the 4th inst.; my absence caused delay in 
replying, which I greatly regret. 

I am astonished to learn that your good father 
was charged with the issuance of the order which 



40 A RECOLLECTION OE THE WAR. 

you quoted. My relatious with Capt. Dyke and 
the battery he commanded was, perhaps, more 
close than was ever enjoyed by a soldier occupying 
my position ; while only a sergeant, I acted and 
performed more the duties of an adjutant, and was, 
therefore, in a position to learn even of matters that 
were confidential. I say to you positively, that I 
never saw such an order, nor did I e\er hear of it. 
Yours respectfullv, 

F. B. Pavy. 

Mr. Jackson Marshall who was a clerk in Gen. 
Winder's office writes as follows : 

No. 530 Carey St., Baltimore, Md., ^ 
November 5th, 1887. i 
Capt. IV. S. IVijider: 

My Dear Sir — I have received the papers con- 
taining the notice of an address delivered bv a 
General Pav\-, before the Federal Ex-Prisoners As- 
sociation at Chicago, at which he read the follow- 
ing order or circular issued at Andersonville : 

(Mr. Marshall here quotes the order as given 
above). 

When your father. Gen. John H. Winder, as- 
sumed command at Andersonville, June, 1864, I 
was a clerk at Headquarters and Gen. Winder re- 
tained me in that position, giving me charge of all 
the books in the office. I remained with him till 
his death, February, 1865. 

I have no recollection of having seen or heard of 
any such order, and no such order was ever entered 
on the order book by me. It is only another of 
the many lies that have been circulated in connec- 
tion with the treatment of the prisoners-of-war. I 
was almost constantly with Gen. Winder, and 
knew him to be incapable of anything like inhu- 
manity or inconsistant with true nobleness of char- 



A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 41 

acter. I resided at Madison, Ga., diirino- the war 
and at Oxford, Ga., for 15 years before, the home 
of Secretary Lamar to whom I can refer. 
Yours truly, 

Jackson Marshall. 

Dr. R. R. Stevenson writes as follows: 

* * * S- ->:- * * * 

"As Chief Surgeon of the Andersonville Prison 
Hospital, I can truthfully say that no such order 
as that referred to ever emanated from Gen. John 
H. Winder or his subordinates. I never saw or 
heard of such art order raitil after the war, and then 
it was through a partisan press." * * « 

In no instance can I find either in the orders is- 
sued by Col. Person or by Gen. Winder, among 
those in my possession, the heading "Military 
Prison," or "Confederate States ]\Iilitary Prison." 
[ have examined their general orders down to No. 
58 inclusive, and their special orders to No. 114 
inclusive. The last general order in m)- possession 
issued at Andersonville is No. 58, dated June 30, 
1864. The last special order is No. 114, dated 
July 1, 1864; but the following letter, dated July 
28, 1864, the day after the date of the alleged order 
No. 13, speaks of special order No. 143, which 
w^as issued either on the 27th or 28th of Julv, 
1864. 

Camp Sumpter, > 
Andersonville, July 28. 1864. S 
Captains — 

B}- special order number one hundred and forty- 
three (143) you will proceed as directed to select a 
site for a new prison in the neighborhood therein 
designated. After selecting the site you w^ill secure 
by rent the land, w^ater privileges, timber and such 
houses adjacent as may be thought advisable. You 
W'ill use a sound discretion, conferring with reliable 



42 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 

men in the vicinity as to the health of the location, 
etc., etc. Notify me by telegram as soon as \'on 
have made the selection. 

\>ry respectful!}' , 

John H. Winder. 
Brig. -Gen. 
Captains D. W. Vowles and W. S. Winder. . 

When the order read b}' Gen. Pavy in Chicago 
was pnblished, I wrote to the Secretary of War 
asking to be informed if any snch order was on file 
among the Confederate records in his department. 
He replied as follows : 

War Department, } 
Washing-ton Cit>-, Oct. 12, 1887. S 

Sir — I am in receipt of >-our letter of the 1st in- 
stant reqnesting a cop}- of an order said to have 
been issned by Gen. John H. Winder and dated 
" Headqnarters Confederate States Military Prison, 
Andersonville, Ga., Jnly 27, 1864," directing the 
officers in charge of the Florida Artillery, npon re- 
ceipt of information that the enemy had appeared 
within seven (7) miles of the post, to open fire 
upon the stockade with grape-shot. 

In reply, I beg to inform yon that a careful 
search has been made, but no record of this order 
is found on file among the Confederate records. 
Ver}' respectfully, 

W. C. Endicott, 
vSecretarN- of War. 
W. S. Winder, 

No. 2117 St. Paul Street, 
Baltimore, Md. 

In writing about Anderson\-ille it has been nn- 
object simply to state facts. I do not wish for a 
moment that any one should think I desire to even 
attempt to say there was no suffering there. I saw 
it there in its bitterest form ; but I do, as I stated 



A RECOLLECTION OE THE WAR. 43 

ill the beginning, wish to lift as far as possible from 
all connected with Andersonville — from the Con- 
federate government to Gen. Winder, and to the 
subordinate officers there, the imputation of pre- 
meditated cruelty to the prisoners confined there. 
In further proof of this, I copy from an article in 
the Brooklyn Eagle ^ J^^l}' 27, 1866, written by an 
Andersonville Union prisoner : 

''A great meeting was held in the stockade; in 
fact, every squad of ninet}' was represented, and 
after consulting Wirz and Winder, six men were 
elected to go to Washington to represent the state 
of the prisoners. Petitions to the Executive were 
drawn up, setting forth their condition very min- 
utely and accurately. The food, the water, the 
shelter, and their clothing, the rate of mortality, 
were all described as they existed, and it might be 
said the poor fellows went down on the knees of 
their hearts, asking to be exchanged by their gov- 
ernment. These documents were transmitted to 
Mr. Davis, in Richmond, with the proposition to 
permit the six delegates to go to Washington. 
Permission was given. x\fter a few days six of the 
most intelligent and devoted men among that 
thirty-five thousand came on as their representa- 
tives to Washington.''' 

Now, let me ask if Mr. Davis, Gen. Winder or 
Capt. Wirz had desired to be cruel and kill out 
these men as charged, would this permission have 
been granted? Could they do more to bring about 
an exchange and release of these men than to send 
this delegation to plead for themselves? I think 
not. But what encouragement did the delegates 
meet with in Washington from their own govern- 
ment? Their own government refused to listen to 
their prayers and they returned to Andersonville. 



44 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 



Christmas day, 1864, fell on Sunday, conse- 
qnently the 26th of December of that year was a 
gala day in the Capital of the Confederacy, as that 
was the day taken for the Christmas revels. . 

Who among ns who was in Richmond during 
the four years of the war does not remember the 
old " Spottswood Hotel." The lobby was full, 
when about 11 o'clock I went there — full of men, 
young and old, and they were full of mirth, some 
full of innocent joy, some doubtless excited by too 
much of what the Indians call "firewater," the 
latter class embraced more than its due share of 
revellers on, that joyous day for the Christmas bowl 
flowed freely. Richmond was full of officers and 
soldiers, and the Richmond world was astir. 

Threading my way through the crowd, I ran 
afoul of Harry Brogden, of Maryland, then in the 
Signal Corps. In course of conversation, he said 
he had orders to go to Canada with dispatches and 
that he did not care to go. I had been in Rich- 
mond for two or three months, and I was anxious 
for some change, and seized by sudden impulse, 
I said I'll go if you do not want to and that re- 
mark nearly cost me my life. 

In a few hours the orders were transferred and it 
was arranged that I should leave next morning. 

It may be well to say here that the papers I car- 
ried consisted of a manifesto from Mr. Jefferson 
Davis stating that John Beall, of Virginia, was a 
duly commissioned officer of the Confederate States 
Navy ; that he had been ordered to make the at- 
tempt to capture Johnson's island, in Lake Erie, 
(then used as a prison) and the gunboat Michigan, 
t he particulars of which attempt have been so of- 
ten published that it is unnecessary for me to repeat 



A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 45 

here. I also carried a copy of Lieut. Beall's com- 
mission as an officer of Confederate States Navy. 

If I were to stop now to tell you of how 1 
reached the Potomac river at Mathias' Point and 
crossed into Maryland, or to give an account of 
running the blockade, you might well ring the 
chestnut bell on me, as all those stories are very 
similar. I shall only say that I crossed the riv^er 
landing at Pope's creek, Maryland, set out imme- 
diately for Washington, saluted the sentinel on 
guard as I passed over the bridge spanning the 
Eastern Branch and stood under the shadow of the 
Capitol — a rebel in Washington. 

Nothing of interest happened initil the following 
Sunday, when I reached Toledo, Ohio, where I 
was detained on account of delayed trains ; while 
sitting in the lobby of the hotel, I think the Oliver 
House, a United States Naval Officer read from a 
paper he held in his hands a notice that it had been 
ascertained that certain papers relative to Beall's 
case had been sent from Richmond to Canada ; that 
the authorities were on the lookout for the messen- 
ger having them in charge. "x^h ! " said he, 
' ' How I would like to catch the damn rascal who 
carries those papers ; it would be the making of 
me or any one else that caught him." 

The remark was addressed to me, as I sat next 
to him, and while I ^■ery politely concurred in his 
views " you bet I did not tell him I was the damn 
rascal." I reached Toronto safely, and after a 
week started back with my coat sleeves full of 
closely written white silk and my head full of more 
important matters committed to memory. 

These dispatches were to be taken back to Rich- 
mond. The second day out on my return trip, I 
fell in with a batch of returned P>deral prisoners 
who had been confined at Andersonville, and who 
had seen me there. This was at a place near San- 



46 A RECOLLECTION OE THE WAR, 

dusky, at the junction of the Sandvisky, Mansfield 
and Newark railroad with the Toledo and Detroit 
road. I soon found out I was known, but I 
could not get off the train ; first one then another 
came and asked me if I was not Davis and if I had 
not been down South, and although I denied it 
and produced a pass-port from Canada stating that 
ni)- name was Cummings, it was no use and when 
I went to change cars at Newark, Ohio, the Super- 
intendent of the railroad said to a detective this is, 
we believe, Lieut. Davis from down South ; please 
arrest him, Air. Brooks. Before being locked up, 
I was subjected to a diligent search, but Mr. 
Brooks failed to find the dispatches and I was able 
to destroy them after I had been put in a cell. 

In an article written on the subject the writer 
says as follows : 

" The Provost ^Marshall, of Newark, was sum- 
moned and the prisoner was speedily hurried to the 
common jail ; a search of his person failed to dis- 
close any secret papers, and he was left in the main 
room with a number of ordinar)- county crimi- 
nals. Soon after the military had left the place, 
the stranger was seen to remo\e from inside his coat 
lining a number of dispatches and drawings upon 
white silk and to burn them in tlie fire which was 
blazing in an open stove. The link that would 
have remo\-ed all doubt as to his purposes and con- 
demned him to instantaneous death was thus hope- 
lessly destroyed." 

I may state here, however, that the detective, 
Air. Brooks, did find m\- gold watch, assuring me 
that he could take better care of it than I could, 
and as he has never returned it, I presume he is 
caring for it still. The next day I was taken to 
Columbus, Ohio, and subsequently to Cincinnati 
for trial ; before leaving Columbus, however, I 
must try, if it is possible, to find language to 



A RECOLLFXTION OF THE WAR. 47 

describe the two iiicylits I spent in the Guardhouse 
at the Barracks in Cohtnibus. • 

The building in which I was confined, I suppose, 
was 40 feet long b)- 16 or 18 feet wide ; I was about 
to say there were two rooms, but it will be better to 
say that the room was divided into two parts. 
The dividing partition being formed of 4x4 scantl- 
ing, set on end, and so close together as to prevent 
anything larger than your fist from passing be- 
tween ; when a man was put in behind this place 
he was said to be behind the grates, and here the 
worst class of prisoners were kept, and there I was 
put. There were 18 or 20 in this pen ; each one 
ironed, myself included. If I had been kept here 
any length of time I nuist have certainly died. I can- 
not find words to tell you of its filth, nor can I think 
now of any kind of filth and dirt besprinkled with ver- 
min that I did not see in that room. In all my life, 
before or since, I have never seen so detestable a 
place : no, not at Libby prison or Andersonville. 

After some two hours I was taken Ijefore the As- 
sistant ProN'ost Marshall. I ])elie\e, in fact I am 
sure, his name was Wilkinson and he was much 
afraid of being imposed on, and after he had ques- 
tioned me some time I asked him not to put me in 
the same place again ; he said, ^' This fine talking 
will not do, I must do my dut\;'' do it by all 
means, I replied, but just think a moment, I ha\'e 
not stolen anything or committed any crime to be 
ashamed of; I am a soldier and a gentleman, wh}- 
coop me up with thieves and ^•agabonds in a pen 
like that. He thought a moment and then detailed 
a .separate guard to watch me in the other part of 
the building, not "behind the grates.'' 

When I was taken back to the guardhouse, I was 
allowed to sit in one corner with a sentinel near me 
whose special and only dut\- was to watch me. I 
was ironed, and of course could not get away, so I 



48 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 

had only to sit, and think, and wait developments. 
In another corher, diagonally from the one in 
which I was, there was chained to one of the np- 
right posts a soldier, a very large, strong man, 
crazy from drink, and it seemed the delight of some 
demons confined in that place to keep him from 
rest and recovery ; if the poor wretch wonld fall 
into a doze some passing fiend wonld kick him 
and wake him tip, in order to hear him swear and 
rant. Later in the night another demented Ital- 
ian soldier was bronght in and turned loose, he 
was small, and lithe, and wiry as a cat, he soon 
saw others teasing the chained man and so fol- 
lowed their example ; he would tantalize till the 
larger man wonld rush at him, as he glided away 
while the chain, its limit being reached, would jerk 
its captive down to the floor with a thud that would 
have stopped any but a drunken man from repeat- 
ing the scene. So things went on till morning. 
Later in the day I was sent to Cincinnati for trial. 
Arrived at the latter place, I was confined in the 
third story of a large building known as " McLean 
Barracks," which was full of prisoners ; among 
them those known as the Chicago Conspirators. I 
was put in a small room ; through a window I 
could see the other prisoners, but was not allowed 
to talk to them, and I had to my leg a ball and 
chain weighing all of 60 pounds ; at taps I was 
ordered to lie down on the floor, I had no bed or 
blanket and the sentinel was told to shoot me if I 
raised my head from a block of wood, wdiich was 
my pillow, before being ordered up in the morning; 
and so I lived from January 15th till February 1st. 
And now came the season of my trial ; it only 
lasted two days, 17th and 18th of January, and 
was only a form. The evidence was simply to 
identify me, I plead not guilty to the. charge of 
being a spy. The officer commanding the Depart- 



A RECOLLECTION 01< THE WAR. 49 

nieiit, Gen. Joe Hooker, said, that man is no spy, 
but the Judge- Advocate General had the findings 
and sentence approved. The trial began 17th Jan- 
uary, 1864 ; there is little I can say of it now, wit- 
nesses who saw me at Andersonville were called to 
prove my identity, and to swear to ni)- arrest with- 
in the Federal lines. T tried to get permission to 
send to Richmond and to Canada for proof that I 
was not a spy, simph- a bearer of dispatches. I 
did this to gain time, for it must be remembered 
up to this time I did not know whether ni}- friends 
knew of ni}' arrest or no. I have, and I give, the 
contents below of several printed slips cut from the 
papers of the time on my application to send to 
Richmond for evidence. The Judge- Ad\'ocate said 
as follows : 

"The Judge- Advocate, Lieut. L. A. Bond, 
stated to the Court that the accused wished to send 
to Richmond, \^a., to obtain documentary evidence 
from the Confederate authorities there that he was 
a bearer of dispatches from Richmond to Canada 
and from Canada to Richmond, and that he is not 
now" here in the capacity of a sp)-. The Judge- 
Advocate remarked : It becomes an important 
question for the Court to decide whether permis- 
sion shall be granted, and it might as well be de- 
cided at this stage of the proceedings as any other. 

I object to any delay in the trial of this case for 
such a purpose, and my reasons for the objections 
are : That the so-called Confederate government 
is not a government recognized b)- any nation in 
the world. Those who control the rebel armies 
are known to us only as traitors in arms in rebel- 
lion against the duly constituted and authorized 
Government of the United States, and any docu- 
ment under the seal of the so-called Confederate 
States could not be introduced in evidence properly 
before a military court of the United States. The 



50 A RECOLLECTION OE THE WAR. 

admission of a document of that kind as evidence 
would, to a certain extent, be an acknowledge- 
ment of the nationality of the insurgent states. 
They have yet to establish their right to a place 
among the nations of the earth. Supposing, how- 
ever, that the accused is permitted to send to Rich- 
mond, Va., and obtain from Jefferson Davis or J. 
P. Benjamin a certificate that he is a Confederate 
officer, and was the bearer of certain dispatches 
from Richmond to Canada. Suppose, also, we ad- 
mit the statement of such certificates to be true ; 
does it necessarily follow that the accused is not a 
spy ? A man ma}- be a bearer of dispatches and 
also be a spy. The two characters may exist in 
the same individual. By the laws of war a soldier 
armed and uniformed may convey dispatches from 
one army to another, or from a part of an army to 
another part, and if captured he is entitled to the 
privileges pf a prisoner-of-war ; but a soldier who 
secretely and in disguise enters the lines of the 
enemy to obtain information and convey it to his 
own authorities is a spy. The acciised in his plea 
admits that he is a rebel enemy of the United 
States, and that he entered the lines of the Army 
of the United States in citizen dress, and that he 
was the bearer of dispatches from the Rebel author- 
ities at Richmond, Va., to persons in Canada hos- 
tile to the United States. 

How, then, can it be claimed that the accused 
should be treated as simply a bearer of dispatches 
and a prisoner-of-war? When captured the ac- 
cused was not armed or in uniform, nor was he car- 
rying dispatches to any army or part of an army 
under the control of the Confederate authorities, 
unless the Confederate authorities claim to have an 
army in Canada, a province belonging to Great 
Britain and presumed to be neutral territory. The 
accused is a Confederate officer, sworn to uphold 



A RECOIXECTION OF THE WAR. 51 

the Confederate interest ; lie is arrested in Ohio, 
disguised in citizen clothing, attempting to co- 
operate with certain persons on the soil of a neutral 
power in acts of hostility towards the United 
States. Under these circumstances of what avail 
would be the certificate of Jefferson Davis or J. P. 
Benjamin, that the accused was a bearer of dis- 
patches as regarded by the laws of war. I there- 
fore submit to the Court whether this case shall be 
delayed to enable the accused to send to Richmond 
to procure the certificate he desires." 

I always wear a loose collar now, less a tighter 
one might recall the sensation I experienced when 
that fellow stopped speaking. It was then it 
dawned upon me in full force that I was in a tight 
place, and I could feel in imagination the hempen 
necktie tighten round my neck, and I might have 
been strangled to death then and there by fright, if 
the President of the Court had not asked me if I 
had anything to say, and I give here the contents 
of a slip cut from a Cincinnati paper of January 
18th or 19th, the time of the trial. 

"STATEMENT OF THE ACCUSED. 

"The accused replied that he had little to say in 
regard to the legal point raised by the Judge- Advo- 
cate, but said : that I was a bearer of dispatches I 
admit freely — wheather a bearer of dispatches is a 
spy or not my acquaintance with international law 
does not enable me to say. 

' ' I cannot see why it is that one bearing dis- 
patches through the United States, as rapidly as I 
can easily prove I did, and in doing which every 
one must see that I could have no time or intention 
to make any discoveries to take back to Richmond. 
I cannot see how such a man can be supposed to be 
a spy and treated as such. 

' ' I crossed the Potomac on the 28th of Decern- 



52 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 

ber, 1864, having received orders to go to Canada 
from the Adjutant- General of the War Department 
at Richmond on the morning of 26th of December. 
On the 30th I registered as H. B. Stephenson at^a 
hotel in Baltimore, on the same day I took an ex- 
press train for Detroit, Michigan. Sunday inter- 
vening before I had time to reach Canada, I was 
oblige to lay over at Toledo where you can find me 
registered in the same name, " H. B. Stevenson," 
New York," on Monday morning at 3 o'clock I 
left for Detroit, and at the Russel House there, under 
date of 2nd day of this year, you may find me 
registered in the same way ; I stayed there long 
enough only to take breakfast, which can be proven 
by the proprietors. Immediately after breakfast I 
crossed the river into Canada, I would not have 
stopped there at all except to learn whether -a pass- 
port was required. 

"On being informed that none was required to go 
from here to Canada, although one is required to 
come from there here, I crossed over to Windsor ; 
there I took the 11 o'clock train for Toronto 
where I arrived at 9 o'clock the same evening and 
registed myself in my own proper name S. B. 
Davis. 

"That I was a bearer of dispatches I have noth- 
ing to prove save that the prisoners with whom I 
was confined, on the first night of my arrest, at 
Newark, saw me take from the inside lining of my 
under coat my dispatches written on white silk and 
destroy them. 

' ' The reason I did not adm.it who I was immedi- 
ately upon my arrest is, that I knew the witness 
the moment I saw him and also the other witnesses 
you have, and I knew that being arrested the way 
I was would be dangerous. 

"My object in denying my name was that I 
might gain time and opportunity to destroy the 



A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. S3 

dispatches. I was searched, however, and they 
didn't find them. I can bring the proof that I de- 
stroyed the dispatches. My government, if allowed 
to hear anything of the case, will uphold me 
simply as a messenger ; and the God of Heaven 
knows it, I have stated the truth. 

The court was cleared for the deliberation, the 
doors were again opened and the Judge- Advocate 
announced the decision of the court : that the re- 
quest of the accused was not granted. 

The court then adjourned to meet again the 
following day at 9 o'clock a. m. 

When the court met next morning there was 
little to say or do ; the rest was form. I have not 
a copy of the speech of the Judge- Advocate, but I 
recollect it was very bitter and he did his best to 
do his duty as he looked at it, viz : to hang the 
" Rebel Spy." He said, that "he, (the spy) was 
brave till captured, but now he asked pity and 
tried to work on the feelings of the court ; but, 
they, the court, owed a duty to their country and 
must not allow themselves to be moved by per- 
sonal feelings of pity or inclination to leniency. 
He drew a vivid sketch of the rebels burning and 
plundering along the Canadian frontier, a result 
this man was trying to accomplish, and closed his 
address with an assertion that the court could not 
fail to convict.' " 

Again it was ni)- time to say something. I 
had never made a speech in my life except at 
school and then I always failed ; but I must say 
something if only to gain time, and I copy now 
from what the papers printed next day : 

"final statement of the accused. 

' ' Unaccustomed to speak in public to men such 
as I evidently see this court is composed of, I may 
well ask you as the school boy in his speech to 
pass by any imperfections in my remarks. 



54 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 

" Gentlemen — You cannot make me out a spy, 
when I am convicted simply of carrying dispatches. 
I can prove they were dipatches by the prisoners 
with whom I was confined at Newark and by 
British subjects in Canada. 

' ' They know they contained nothing injurious 
to the United States Government. There was, so 
far as I know, nothing in either the dispatches 
I took or that I was carrying back, that could in 
the least interfere with the United States or give 
benefit to the Confederate Government. What I 
say to you will not have the weight of a feather 
upon this case, still it is a comfort to one who 
knows he is innocent to say so to those who hold 
his life in their hands. 

"The dispatches I had did not bear one iota of in- 
formation as to what was going on within the limits 
of the United States. What I say may have little 
weight upon the decision of this court. I hope and 
believe you are impartial and just men, serving your 
country as best }'OU may ; so I have done, and if 
it should be my fate to die upon the gallows or by 
the musketry of an enemy I can look to God with 
a clear conscience, and look every man in the face 
that ever breathed, and know that I died innocent 
of the charge alleged against me. Yes, gentle- 
men ! you may shoot or hang and launch me into 
eternity before the bar of God, now or whenever 
it may seem fit; but, gentlemen, that moment 
the muskets fire or the trap-door falls an innocent 
man is launched into eternity. 

" Gentlemen, I do not ask pity my heart fears 
nothing on this earth, I am no coward; I, like the 
rest of you, have faced bullets before to-day. Some 
of you have marks of them, I can show them, too, I 
ask not for pity — I ask but for justice. If, in justice, 
you or any other court of God's globe can make 
me out a spy, hang me, gentlemen, I am not afraid 



A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 55 

to die. Young" as I am, scarcely verged into man- 
hood, I would like to live ; but, gentlemen, I am 
no coward and I deem one who would stand here 
before his fellowmen, before soldiers who have 
faced the foe, who have felt bullets, and ask 
pity does not deserve the name of man. Had I 
thought you could ha\'e made me out a spy, noth- 
ing could have forced me out of Richmond. As 
to gathering information, I have no way to show 
that I ha\-e not done it ; I know I have only done 
my duty. I have done it as best I could. God 
knows what I intended and He knows I do not 
deserve death, but if I die I go without asking pity; 
but as a soldier should die. I fear not death and I 
can go to the judgment bar of God now, to-mor- 
row or whenever it may please the Chief Magis- 
trate of this country to say go. 

The trial was over. Each member of the Court 
came and shook hands with me, expressing his 
personal regret at my unfortunate position, and I 
was taken back to soltitude and my ball and chain.' 
And now came a most trying ordeal, indeed. I 
had been a prisoner since 11th of January ; had 
been tried for m}- life and had never had a friendly 
word or a line from any one on whom I could rely 
to help me, nor had I any reason to know or think 
that my friends in Richmond, Canada or Baltimore 
(where they would be of the most use to me) knew 
of my position. Can you imagine what the suspense 
amounted to ? Chained, watched by sentinels who 
had expressed a desire to shoot me, believing my 
only chance for life was to come from friends with 
•w^hom I could not communicate, I often wonder 
how I sur\-ived. 

x\fter the trial, and when near February 1st, I 
do not remember the exact date, a gentleman who 
had known me in earlier days called to see me and 
said he would notify my friends of my trouble, and 



56 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 

that he woiild do all he could for me, but advised 
uie to prepare for the worse, as he saw no chance 
for me. 

On February 1st, 1865, I found from motions 
made to me b}- prisoners whom 1 could see but not 
converse with, that something unusual had come 
to their knowledge about me, and later in the day 
I saw a slip from one of the daily papers which 
said I was to be hung February 17th, 1865, and 
that the sentence had been approved and promul- 
gated by the President of the United States as well 
as b)' the Commanding General. That night I was 
handed the official record of my sentence, which I 
give in full : 

Headquarters Northern Department, I 
Cincinnati, Ohio, Jan. 26, 1865. ^ 

General Order No. 4. 

Before a general court-martial which convened 
at Cincinnati, Ohio, January 17, 1865, pursuant to 
special orders Nos. 212, 250 and 273, series of 
1864, from these headquarters, and of which Lieut. - 
Col. E. L. Webber, 88th Regiment, Ohio Volun- 
teer infantry, is president, was arraigned and tried 

S. B. Davis, alias Willoughby Cummings. 

Charge : ' ' Being a Spy. ' ' 

Specification. — In this, that S. B. Davis, alias 
Willoughby Cummings, a rebel enemy of the 
United States, and being an officer in the service of 
the so-called Confederate States of America, did, on 
or about the 1st day of January, 1865, secretly and- 
in disguise enter and come within the lines of the 
regularly authorized and organized military forces 
of the United States, and within the States of 
Ohio and Michigan, and did then and there se- 
cretly and covertly lurk, in the dress of a citizen, 



A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 57 

as a sp}', and on or about the 12th day of January, 
1865, did attempt to leave the said States of Ohio 
and jMichigan, with the purpose and object of going 
to Richmond, Va., there to deliver dispatches and 
information from certain parties whose names are 
unknown, hostile to the Government of the United 
States, to Jefferson Davis, President of the so-called 
Confederate States of America, but was arrested as 
a spy on or about the 14tli da}- of January, 1865, 
at or near Newark, within the said State of Ohio. 

To which the accused pleaded as follows : To 
the specification, "Guilty," except to the word 
' ' lurk ' ' and the phrase "as a sp}- . ' ' 

To the charge — Not guilty. 

EIN1>ING AND .SENTENCE. 

The Court, after mature deliberation on the e\i- 
dence adduced, find the accused as follows: 

Of the specification — Guilt}-. 

Of the charge — Guilty. 

Two-thirds of the members of the Court con- 
curring therein. 

And the Court do therefore sentence him, S. B. 
Davis, alias Willoughby Cummings, to be hung 
by the neck until he is dead, at such time and place 
as the Commanding Creneral may direct. 

Two-thirds of the members of the Court con- 
curring therein. 

The proceedings, finding and sentence in the 
foregoing case of S. B. Davis, alias Willoughby 
Cummings, are approved and confirmed. He will 
be sent under proper guard by the Commandant 
of Post, Cincinnati, Ohio, and delivered into the 
custody of Col. C. W. Hill, Commanding at John- 
son's Island, who will see that the sentence in this 
case is duly executed at that place between the 
hours of 10 o'clock a. m. and 3 p. m., Friday, the 



58 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 

17tli day of February, A. D. 1865, and make due 
report to the Commanding General. 
By command of Major-Gen. Hooker. 

. C. H. Potter, 
Official. Asst. Adjt.-Gen. 

C. H. Potter, 

Capt. and A. A. G. 
On the morning of 2d of February I arrived at 
Johnson's Island to await the day of execution. I 
was taken there b)' Capt. Will Mahon, who was 
very kind and friendly, and did all he could to 
make me easy and comfortable. He was very con- 
siderate, and on the 1st of Februar}-, after he left 
me, he wrote the following letter: 

Sanduskv, Ohio, ^ 
February 1, 1865. ^ 
Lieut. S. B. Davis: 

Lieut. — I missed the train this afternoon and 
can't get away before morning. I have just mailed 
both of your letters and thought probably it would 
be a satisfaction to you to know it. If there is 
anything I can do for you, let me know it ; you 
know my address. I felt so glad you were received 
so kindly at the Island and had so many more 
privileges than von had before. God bless you ! 
Yours truly. 

Will Mahon. 

On the 3d of February I received the first inti- 
mation that ni}- friends knew of my trouble and 
were working for me. It came in the following 
letter received from the gentleman who had called 
on me in Cincinnati : 

Cincinnati, Ohio, \ 
February 2, 1865. S 
Lieut. S. B. Davis^ 
Johnson's Island: 
Dear Sir — It mav be some consolation to you to 



A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR, 59 

know ill the sad circumstances in whicli you are 
placed that your Baltimore friends are fully ap- 
prised of your situation, and will spare no effort to 
obtain some mitigation of the sentence now resting 
against you. Still cherish that trust in Providence 
of which you spoke when I last saw you, and hope 
for the best while prepared for the worst. 
With the same sentiments as heretofore, 

I am, etc., 

W. L. M. C. 

And now came the struggle to save me. It 
would be impossible to do justice in words to those 
kind friends who came forward in that time of 
great necessity, and I must say here that the 
hatchet seemed buried for a time in my case, and 
friends and foes alike aided one another in the com- 
mon end to be attained. I have several old letters 
and copies of others which I will insert here, and 
which lead up to the day of execution. 

On the 9th of February there was written a let- 
ter by a lawyer to another lawyer in Baltimore, 
and I desire to make an extract therefrom, as it 
shows how my case was looked at by the legal fra- 
ternity on both sides — I mean Federal, and those 
who were Southern in their sympathies, for the 
writer of the letter was a staunch Union man and 
loyal to the United States : 

" I did see General Hooker, in company with 
Mr. Anderson, on the 20th of January. I stated 
Davis' case to him. As soon as he heard it he 
said: '■ He's iio spy. ^ He thanked me for calling 
his attention to the case and said he wovild bear my 
statement in mind when the papers came before 
him in review. ****** 

" You may judge my astonishment on learning 
the sentence and of its approval by General Hooker. 
I went to Cincinnati next day, and there learned 



60 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 

under a pledge of secrecy (as the condition of the 
communication), that General Hooker had relied 
on the opinion of his Judge Advocate, without giv- 
ing the case his special attention. That the Judge 
Advocate was satisfied he had erred in recommend- 
ing the approval of the sentence, and that it was 
already determined to revoke the order for its exe- 
cution and to change it to hard labor during the 
war. I speak of this now because I learn from 
Colonel Jackson that he has obtained the same in- 
formation from headquarters and communicated it 
to you, otherwise I could not mention it. 

"I however ignored my information, and on the 
2d or February addressed a letter to Burnet, re- 
monstrating against the sentence as a violation, 
not only of the law, but of the distinction which 
the human mind invohmtarily makes in appor- 
tioning punishment according to the magnitude of 
the offense, and that such extreme punishments 
must do harm, not only by inviting retaliation but 
by exciting in the minds of our own people, espe- 
cially the intelligent and reflecting, a distrust as to 
the wise and impartial administration of the law by 
our military tribunals." 

The above extract must speak for itself. I think 
it shows that my plea of not guilty was right, and 
it was fully proven, if not inside the Court, at least 
at military headquarters. With nothing to do but 
think of my rapidly approaching end, my time for 
the next few days was anything but pleasant. Day 
after day went slowly, but yet too fast toward the 
day of execution. On the 8th of February I wrote 
a letter to the Judge Advocate of the Court which 
tried me and asked that one or two members of the 
Court might be present and see me executed. I 
have before me his original reply which I insert 
below : 



A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 61 

Office Assistant Judge Advocate, 1 

Northern Department, > 

Cincinnati, Ohio, Feb. 11, 1864. ) 

Lieut. S. B. Daz'is^ 

Johnson's Island, Ohio: 

Lieut.: — Your communication of the 8th inst. is 
before me, and I hasten to reply your request that 
one or two members of the Court which sentenced 
you to be hung may be present at your execution 
will be granted if possible. As Judge Advocate of 
the general court martial which pronounced the 
sentence of death upon you, I gladly avail myself 
of this opportunity of saying to you that by your 
manly conduct and heroic bearing under the most 
trying circumstances, you have won the respect 
and excited the admiration of your foeman. A 
sense of duty to their country alone actuated the 
members of the Court when they found you guilty 
of being a spy, and I assure you that so far as I 
was concerned it was with feelings of regret and 
sadness that I condiicted the prosecution against 
you. Regret that one so young and brave should 
deem it right to assist in the destruction of his na- 
tive land, and sadness that it was my duty to 
prove him guilty of an offense which merits and 
receives an ignominious punishment. In that hour 
of trial may He, who in his mercy tempereth the 
wind to the shorn lamb, be your protection and 
support. 

Respectfully, etc., 

Lewis A. Bond, 
Lieut. U. S. Volunteers and Asst. Judge Advo- 
cate, N. D. 

On the 9th there came to me a gentleman whom 
I had never seen before but who said he was au- 
thorized to tell me that I would not be hung. I 
questioned him closel)', but could get nothing fur- 



62 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 

ther from him ; he said I must not let any one on 
the Island know of this change of sentence ; that 
the commanding officer did not know it_, bnt I 
could rely on his word. On the 11th I was again 
told I could rely on his word and by those in au- 
thority, but still the officer in charge did not 
know of any change, and I could get no hopes 
from him or any one on the Island. This caused 
me to think I was being deceived and that I was 
only being held up by false hopes to the end. Hard 
work was being done, howe\er, to save my life, 
and I want to insert here several letters and other 
papers which are of interest onl}^ on account of the 
names signed to them and to show their bearing in 
the case : 

United States Senate Chamber, > 
Washington, Feb. 8th, 1865. ] 

My Dear Sir — I have only time this morning to 
write you a line and inclose a rough copy of my 
proceedings which you will understand. Unwill- 
ing to trust even our special messenger, I delivered 
the original in person this morning. 

My impression is that connnutation of punish- 
ment is certain ; but, yet I would relax no effort 
to obtain full pardon. 

All you have to do is to get some political friend 
of the President to see him. I have done all in 
power and hope with effect ; I doubted as to the 
propriety of sending Saulsbury's letter, but several 
old senators thought differently, so I followed their 
counsel. Yours truly, 

Geo. Reed Riddle. 
Hon. B. C. Presstman. 

United States Senate Chamber, } 
Washington, Feb. 7th, 1865. 5 
Sir — Ivieut. Sam'l B. Davis, of the Confederate 
Army, has been sentenced to be shot or hung at or 



A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 63 

near Cincinnati on the 17th. The object of this 
letter is a commutation of his punishment, which 
I respectfull)- ask. The testimony in the case, to 
my mind, proves him to be a bearer of dispatches 
from Canada to Richmond and not "a spy." To 
all minds there must be a doubt upon the subject, 
and I trust you will oive the prisoner the benefit of 
the doubt and punish him as a bearer of dispatches 
ought to be, should you not feel disposed to pardon 
him in full. 

Lieut. Davis was born within a hundred yards 
of my residence. He is an orphan, being a son of 
the late Alonzo B. Davis, who was Lieutenant in 
our Navy and a gallant officer. He is, moreover, 
the grandson of Col. Sam'l B. Davis, who was the 
defender of Lewis Delaware during the War of 
1812, and has two sisters dependent upon him. 
The young man is but 20 years of age and has 
many friends, both in Delaware and Maryland, 
who would be gratified should you pardon him or 
commute his punishment. 

I have the honor to be. 

Respectfully, ect., 

Geo. Reed Riddle. 
His Excellency, 

Abraham Lincoln, 

Pres. of the U. S., etc. 

I join Mr. Riddle in asking for a commutation 
of the punishment of death. 

[Signed] P. G. Vanwinkle, 
" Alex. Ramsey, 

" N. A. Farwell, 

" Ira Harris, 

" Jas. Dixon, 

J. C. Ten Eyck. 

The subscribers cheerfulh- unite with Mr. Rid- 
dle in his application for the pardon or commuta- 



64 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 

tion of the punishment of Lieut. S. B. Davis, of 
the Confederate Army, convicted as before recited. 

[Signed] Reverdy Johnson, 
'' Wm. Wright, ' 

C. R. BUCKALEW, 

" T. A. Hendricks, 

L. W. Powell, 
" W. A. Richardson, 

" Edgar Cowan, 

" Garrett Davis, 

" J- W. Nesmith, 

jNo. R. Hale, 
" Jno. S. Carlisle, 

" J as. H. Lane, 

" J- B. Henderson. 

United States Senate Chamber, } 
Washington, Feb. 7th, 1865. i' 
To the President : 

You know I am no political friend of yours. 
You know I neither ask or expect any personal 
favor from you or your administration. 

Senator Douglas told me, in his life-time, you 
were a kind hearted man. All I ask of you is to 
read the defense of this young man, (Sam'l B. 
Davis) unassisted by counsel ; compare it with the 
celebrated defense of Emmet, and act as the judg- 
ment and the heart of the President of the United 
States should act. 

Respectfully, ect., 

[Signed] Wm. vSaulsbury. 
His Excellency, 

Abraham Lincoln, 

President of U. S., etc., etc. 

While so much was being done to save my life, 
there were evidentl}' others doing all they could 
against me. I never found out who this was until 



A RFXOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 65 

after the war was over and I had been released ; 
but in an extract from a letter which was written 
August, 1865, when attempts were made for my 
release from prison, and which I will give in due 
place hereafter. It seems that Secretar)- of War 
(Staunton) and Judge Holt were opposed to me. 
I copy from a letter written from Cincinnati, Feb- 
ruary 16th, 1865. '' I have heretofore received 
your telegram in relation to visiting Johnson's 
island and answered it asking you to ' delay ' it, 
however. The reason of this was my anxiety that 
no movement should be made in the matter until 
the 17th (the day fixed for execution had passed) 
I was the more anxious and indeed sensitive on this 
point, on account of a very ambiguous telegram 
which was received here from the President as 
follows : 

" Executive Mansion, > 
February 13, 1865. S 
''Maj. Gen. Hooker: 

"Is it not Lieut. S. B. Davis, convicted as a 
rebel spy, whose sentence has been commuted ; if 
not, let it not be done. Is there not another per- 
son connected with him also in trouble? " 

"A. Lincoln." 

"Now a close scrutiny at the wording of this dis- 
patch will at once show that it was the President's 
intention to have Lieut. S. B. Davis' sentence 
commuted. It was, however, when first received 
read as if it was retracting or negativing the order 
to commute, hence I felt anxious that no further 
complications should ensue. 

' ' The outside pressure and public comment has 
been very bitter against him, and quite a storm of 
indignation will be vented on the head of some one 
when it leaks out that he has not been hung. 

"Under the, laws of War and of Nations I felt con- 



66 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 

fident he was not a spy, and hence I have acted in 
his case. 

" I have also been pleased to learn fron\ some 
Federal officers, who had been prisoners in Ander- 
sonville, that Davis treated them with great kind- 
ness, and he was actually removed from his posi- 
tion for an act of favoritism to two officers who 
were visiting, b}' his consent, a sick comrade." 

The I7th was approaching, and on the 15th my 
attention was called by the guards to the fact that 
the gallows was being erected and by the night of 
the 16th it was completed. Still the officer in 
charge knew nothing of change of sentence, on 
the night of 16th the guards were doubled at dark 
and all arrangements made for execution, at 10 
o'clock next morning I sent word to the Command- 
ing Officer asking him to dispense with the form of 
letting me ride to the gallows on my coffin, and 
told him I could and would walk and give him no 
unnecessary trouble, and I laid down and slept on 
the night of 16th of Februar>% thinking honestly 
that I had seen the sun set for the last time. 
Finally the 17th came, I rose at 5 o'clock, dressed, 
ate breakfast and sat down to wait, by 7 o'clock 
crowds began coming to the Island to see the exe- 
cution. The band in my hearing was playing 
the dead march and I saw men stretching some 
rope which I was told was to be my cravat. I had 
written a few verses and some of the officers came 
in to ask for them and my autograph, etc., and 
things looked desperate. If I may use such and 
expression, I was mentally dead — all hope was 
gone. At this time Col. Hill, the Commanding 
Officer came rapidly to my quarters and sending 
out all officers and sentinels said : "I have a com- 
mutation for you ; your sentence is commuted." 

I replied, " I am glad to hear of it sir, to what 
is it commuted ? ' ' To imprisonment during the 



A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 67 

war. Where ? At For Delaware. When do I 
go? At once. I am ready. The next day the 
Sandusky papers said : ' ' The commutation was 
broken to him so gently he showed no feelings." 
I had no feelings and it was hours before I realized 
my life was saved. 

On leaving the Island I was given a letter from 
my sister telling me that my sentence had been 
commuted, and it was dated two weeks before, and 
had it been given me when received it would have 
saved me much weary suspense, but it was held 
till all was over. At Sandusky I past a train load 
of people going to see me hung, but even to-day I 
am glad they were disappointed. 

On arrival at Fort Delaware I was put into a 
casemate with several others who were confined 
there for various reasons. I made up my mind 
that I would let no opportunity pass me that savor- 
ed in the least of a chance to escape, and I set to 
work at once, and in two or three days had made 
progress enough to be hopeful of success ; but my 
hopes were doomed to disappointment. Some one 
had been kind enough to inform Secretary Staun- 
ton that "if I was permitted to remain in Fort 
Delaware I would certainly manage to escape and 
very soon." Consequently, after a week's sojourn 
there, I was one day taken before General Schoeph, 
commanding, who informed what was to take 
place in the following order to a corporal. " You 
will take this man, put irons on him and take him 
to Albany ; if he attempts to escape, shoot him 
dead." Turning to me he said : " You hear?" I 
replied I did, and was soldier enough to under- 
stand. After leaving his office I remarked I had 
handled a very large crowd of Federal prisoners, or 
had charge of prisons where more prisoners were 
confined than General Schoeph had ever seen in 
one body, and I had never ironed a man. This 



68 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 

was repeated to General Schoepli and lie sent for 
me and asked what I had said. I repeated ; when 
with profane and \T.ilgar language I need not re- 
peat here, he ordered his orderly to kick and beat 
me, while General Schoepli and his adjutant, Cap- 
tain Ahl, stood by with pistols waiting for a chance 
to kill me if I resisted in any way. I had gone 
through too much, however, to be shot for making 
a useless resistance, feeling assured that no Amer- 
ican or brave man would have acted in such a 
cowardly way. 

I was taken to Albany, where I remained until 
the 1st of September, 1865. I need not recount 
here the monstrous life I led there. For six weeks 
I was confined in cell No. 130, then through the 
kindness of gentlemen in Albany, whose interest 
had been solicited, I was transferred to the prison 
hospital, on my promising I would not try to es- 
cape. Escape was of no use then, Lee had sur- 
rendered and I promised. 

All to be done now was to work and hope for re- 
lease, and everything was done to accomplish it. 
Once the order was issued, but on its being taken 
to the War Department, the Secretary destroyed it 
and said the President had made a mistake. 

On the 16th of August, 1865, the following letter 
was written for the information of those who were 
working for me : 

War Dept., Adjutant-General's office, } 
Washington, Aug. 16, 1865. S 

//on . Reverdy Johnson , 

Baltimore, Maryland : 
Sir: — In reply to your communication of the 7th 
inst., addressed to his Excellency, the president of 
the United States, requesting the remission of the 
sentence in the case of Samuel Boyer Davis, alias 
Cummings. 



A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 69 

I have respectfully to state that the President de- 
clines to interfere with the execution of the sen- 
tence as coipmuted. I remain, sir, very respect- 
fully, E. D. TOWNSEND, 

Assistant Adjutant General. 

The following statement is taken from a letter 
also written in August, 1865 : 

" When I called, Col. Burnett, Judge Advocate 
on Gen. Hooker's staff, was in the sitting room. 

I asked why Davis was still in prison, as. I un- 
derstood his punishment had been commuted to im- 
prisonment during the war. Burnett said " No, it 
was imprisonment for life.' 'Is this so.' He also 
said he had received a severer ' raking down' both 
from the Secretary of War and Judge Holt for his 
recommendation in favor of a change of Davis' 
punishment than for any other of his official acts. 
That they were both down on him, and that if any 
steps were taken to procure Davis' release, we 
ought to avoid Staunton and Holt and go directly 
to the President." 

Of course this showed who m}^ enemies were and 
no further efforts were made until October, 1865, 
when I wrote to Gen. Hooker from Fort Warren, 
where I had been sent September 1st, 1865. In a 
short time I got the following letter : 

Headquarters Department of the East, ^ 
New York City, October 25, 1865. I 
Mr. S. Boyer Davis, 

Prisoner-of-War, Fort Warren, 

Boston Harbor, Mass.: 
Sir — Your letter of the 2d inst. was received 
during the absence of the Major-General Com- 
manding, since his return I submitted the same to 
him for instructions. 

In reph' he directs me to say that the Govern- 
ment has not yet declared the war terminated. 



70 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 

That you were transferred from Albany to Fort 
Warren by order of the authorities at Washington, 
and in order to gain the information you desire 
your petition must be addressed to them at Wash- 
ington. Very respectfully, 

Your obediant servant, 
Wm. H. Lawrence, 
Brig. -Gen. and A. D. C. 

Again headed off, I could only wait develop- 
ments. October passsed and the dreary days of 
November were upon us. Worried to death at my 
prolonged imprisonment I wrote to Mr. P. Bradley, 
an exchanged prisoner from Andersonville, asking 
his aid in securing my release. Subsequently I 
received the following letter from him : 

Milford, Mass., November 5th, 1865. 
6". B. Davis ^ Esq. : 

Sir — I have been in Washington, on my return 
I found your note of 28th ; am sorry for the delay. 
In reply, I would say you were the first to intro- 
duce any thing like sanitary regulations in the 
prison at iVndersonvdlle ; at Savannah, where you 
had command, the prisoners were treated like men, 
so far as you were concerned, having plenty to eat 
— double the amount issued at Andersonville, and 
of a better quality. You never used any violence 
and never punished any one for escaping or trying 
to escape, always telling the prisoners it was their 
place to get away if they could, and your place, as 
a Confederate officer, to keep them. All the re- 
turned prisoners in this place endorse this. 

If I could afford it I would go at once to Wash- 
ington and state the case to the proper officers. 

I intend to call a meeting of our association to 
be held in January, if you are not released before 
that time, we will act in the matter. Anything I 
can do for }^ou, for I believe you deserve it, I am 



A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 71 

at )Oiir command. Write and let me know if you 
are in want of anything and I will send it. 
Yours truly, 

P. Bradley, 
President Andersonville Prison Survivors Associ- 
ation, jNIilford, Mass. Box 965. 

N. B. — Andersonville Prison Survivors Associa- 
tion : P.Bradley, Milford, Mass., President ; O. 
B. Fairbanks, Paterson, N. J., Vice-President; 
Chas. Montgomery, Cleveland, Ohio, Secretary; 
Jno. M. Lafferty, Phila., Pa., Assistant Secretary; 
Jas. M. Wright, Fairburg, 111., Corresponding Sec- 
retar)'. 

The drear}- days of November were gone, De- 
cember was upon us. On the 7th of December an 
officer came to my quarters and handed me the fol- 
lowing official order : 

War Dept., xA-djutant-General's Office, ^ 
Washington, Dec. 4, 1865. I 
Commanding Officer Fort Warren^ 
Boston Harbor, Mass.: 

Sir : — The Secretary of War directs that upon 
receipt of this order S. Boyer Davis, citizen, and 
Louis Schermer, late Colonel 15th N. Y. Heavy 
Artillery, be at once released from confinement and 
furnished transportation to their homes. 

Please acknowledge receipt and report com- 
pliance. I am very respectfully, 

Your obedient servant, 
[Signed,] E. D. Townsend, 

Asst. Adjt.-Genl. 

Headquarters, Fort Warren, Mass. 
December 7, 1865. Official. 

[Signed,] Lewis Smith, 
1st Lt. & R. M. 3d U. S. Art. 

Acting Adjutant. 



72 A RECOLLECTION OF THE WAR. 

On my arrival in Baltimore I saw a gentleman 
who had that day come from Washington, and who 
came to notify my friends that it was impossible to 
have me released, as Stannton was very bitter and 
said I " ought to have been hung.'' He could not 
understand how I got out of prison, and Staunton 
afterwards said it was a mistake. 

I am very sure that many having read this little 
stor\' of the war have thought often during its pe- 
rusal, "I wonder how that fellow felt when the}' 
were about to hang him?'' 

Now, I cannot tell you, nor do I believe that 
any one under similar circumstances can tell ^-ou. 
I once heard a darky preacher describe hell, or tell 
what he knew about it. He said : "I don't know 
if there is such a place, I don't know if there is 
fire there or sorrow there or if there is anything 
there, but, brothers and sisters, I don't want to 
go there if it is nothing but smoke." 

And I don't want to feel as I did from 1st to 17th 
of Febniar^', 1865, again, even if it ends as it did 
then, onlv in smoke. 



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